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UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 




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Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I wih build My Church." 

St. Matthew xvi. i8. 



THE 



LABORS OF THE APOSTLES: 



Their Teachirpg of the flations. 



BY 

RIGHT REV. LOUIS DE GOESBRIAND, D.D., 

Bishop of Burlington, 
Author of " Christ oo the Altar,^' *' History of Confession," etc 




New York, Cincinnati, Chicago u^S"(0 ^\/ 

BENZIQKR BROTHERS, 

Printers ta the Holy Apostolu Su. 
1893- 



— N_ 



-^0 



^^■>y 



Copyright, 1893, by Benziger Brothers. 



d 






Preface. 

IN WHICH I SPEAK OF MY LIFE AND OF WHAT WAS THE 
OCCASION OF WRITING THIS LITTLE WORK. 

f INTEND, dear reader, to write regarding the 
labors of the apostles, and the origin of the 
Christian religion. I invite you to follow me 
to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other 
points in the Holy Land, as well as to Tarsus, An- 
tioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Athens, Rome, Alexan- 
dria, and many otner piaces. 

I have travelled much in the United States and 
in other countries, and have always noticed that 
fellow-travellers are anxious, when they first meet, 
to learn where their companions come from, 
whither they are going, and what is the nature of 
their business or avocation. I will therefore tell 
you something about myself. 

I am a bishop of the Catholic Church, and I 
think one of the oldest bishops of the world. 
I was born in the western part of France which 
is called Little Britanny. My parents and all 
my relatives were very good Christians. Among 
them, or indeed among any of the people of the 
country, I never heard of religious discussion. 
They acknowledged and venerated the Pope as 
the Vicar of Jesus Christ upon earth, the dioce- 



PREFACE. 



san bishop as the head of the diocese, and the 
parish priest as the spiritual father of the con- 
gregation. They obeyed their prelates, knew 
and observed the commandments of God, accept- 
ed and recited at their prayers the Apostles Creed 
as the synopsis of revealed truth, and worshipped 
their Creator by daily morning and evening 
prayers on week-days, and by attending Mass 
on Sundays and holy-days. 

My parents always spoke of the Bible with the 
greatest respect. I remember to have seen at 
home one of the books of Solomon, w^ritten in its 
entirety in the hand of one of my grandfathers ; 
and when I was leaving home to come to America, 
one of my uncles, who had been a distinguished 
servant of his country, wrote to me, recommending 
that I should always carry a copy of the New 
Testament about me, remarking that such had 
been his own practice, and that often amidst 
great dangers he had found immense consolation 
in reading the sacred Book, particularly the chap- 
ter of St. John regarding the Holy Eucharist, the 
discourse of the Saviour after the Last Supper, and 
the Sermon on the Mount. 

When I had finished my classical studies, I 
lived at home for some time, undecided as to the 
career which I should embrace. I thought serious- 
ly for a time of entering on a military career, for I 
much admired the virtues which characterize the 
good soldier, and there had been many military 
men in our family. For many months after com- 
ing from college I remained in this state of inde- 
cisiveness, until one day all my aversion to the 



PREFACE. 5 

ecclesiastical state was changed into a determina- 
tion to embrace it. 

My preparation for the priesthood lasted five 
years ; part of the time I spent in the seminary 
of my native diocese, and the rest in the cele- 
brated house of St. Sulpice in Paris. During my 
stay in that house I became acquainted with 
some students from Boston, among them Rev. J. 
B. Fitzpatrick, who, four years after leaving St. 
Sulpice, became third bishop of Boston. But the 
real occasion of my leaving France for the missions 
of America was the presence of Right Reverend 
J. B. Purcell at the Seminary. He was returning 
from Rome on his way to Cincinnati, and I went 
to see him, and volunteered to become one of his 
missionaries. 

There are probably still living in New York 
many who remember the packet boat Iowa and 
its excellent commander. Captain Pell. On this 
ship I embarked at Havre, on July 17, 1840, and 
reached New York forty-five days after. This 
was a long voyage, but I rather enjojxd it, for I 
was always, and am still, fond of the sea. 

Among the passengers on board the Iowa two 
particularly attracted my attention. They were 
an elderly gentleman from one of our great 
cities, and his daughter, a lady of about 15 
or 16. They were returning from Paris, where 

Miss had spent some time in a school. The 

old gentleman was very kind and affable, though 
sometimes out of humor when we happened to be 
tossed by the storm, or prevented from going 
ahead by dead calm. His remarks on those occa- 



6 PREFACE. 

sions were rather amusing, and he evidently felt 
that there is no place like home. 

The good old gentleman had evidently paid 
hitherto more attention to money-making than to 
religion, and I used to wonder at his religious 
views. It was new to me to hear such statements 
as : all religions are good ; it matters not what a 
man believes, provided he does right. He had car- 
ried into practice whaf he held in theory, and 
when, on a former trip to Europe, he had left his 
daughter in a boarding-school in Paris, he had de- 
Glared to the master that " his daughter must be 
taught some religion. She might be a Catholic, 
she might be something else, but she must have 
religion." What the result of such training must 
be is evident to every thinking person. 

I soon found out, after spending some time in 
the northern part of Ohio, that indifferentism, 
doubt, and ignorance about religious matters were 
prevalent in the land. 

Bibles, however, were not wanting ; they were to 
be seen on the parlor tables of ships, of steam and 
canal boats, on the shelves of steam cars, on the 
mantle-pieces of hotels. 

More than fifty-two years have elapsed since I 
landed in New York as a priest, desirous of helping 
men to save their souls. Since that time, editions 
upon editions of Bibles and New Testaments have 
been printed and distributed broadcast through 
the land, new religious denominations have been 
started, church edifices or meeting-houses with- 
out number have been erected, ministers are not 
wanting ; there is no lack of Sunday-schools, prayer 



PREFACE. 7 

or camp meetings, communion services, and so on, 
but where is true religion, where is unity of belief, 
where is uniformity in the worship of God ? 

During my long life as priest and bishop I have 
been frequently asked by non-Catholics to permit 
them to marry Catholic ladies, members of my dio- 
cese. My experience in that matter is that the 
greater part of those applicants never prayed to 
God, never went to a house of worship, or if they 
did go, it was sometimes to one, sometimes to an- 
other ; that they were totally ignorant about God, 
their own soul, and the way to save it. 

They were, however, what are known z,% good fel- 
lows; they acknowledged that they ought to serve 
and honor God, but the way to do it they did not 
know. They had seen enough of the Bible, but 
if they attempted to read it they soon let it alone, 
not knowing where it came from, nor what it 
meant. 

I must be pardoned when I say that what I 
found to be true of the lay people I found to ap- 
ply in great measure to the ministers. Although 
they speak of the Bible, recommend it to be read 
by all as the only rule of faith and morals ; although 
they explain it in their own way — they are well 
aware that their explanations may be false, they 
cannot tell upon what authority the Bible rests, 
and they feel that their comments and rec- 
ommendations result only in dissension and un- 
belief. 

It has therefore occurred to me to write this lit- 
tle work regarding the labors of the apostles 
and the origin of the Christian religion.. I writ# 



8 PREFACE. 

for the sake of men of good will, and all must ac- 
knowledge that a very simple and easy way to 
find the truth is to see how the early Christians 
were converted. 

Was it by reading the New Testament or by 
the teaching of those whom Christ had commis- 
sioned to preach the Gospel ? The way to the truth 
must be the same now as it was eighteen hundred 
years ago. 

Those who have doubts regarding religion I 
earnestly recommend to read the following charm- 
ing trait in the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

" There was in Jericho a man named Zacheus, 
who was the chief of the publicans, and he was 
rich. And he sought to see Jesus who He was ; 
and he could not for the crowd, because he was 
low of stature. And running before, he climbed 
up into a sycamore tree that he might see Him : 
for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus was 
come to the place, looking up. He saw him, and 
said to him : Zacheus, make haste and come down : 
for this day I must abide in thy house. And he 
made haste and came down, and received him with 
joy. And when all saw it they murmured, saying 
that He was gone to be a guest with a man that 
was a sinner. But Zacheus standing said to the 
Lord : Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give 
to the poor: and if I have wronged any man of 
anything, I restore him fourfold. Jesus said to 
him : This day is salvation come to this house, 
because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son 
of man is come to seek and to save that which was 
lost." (St. Luke xix.) 



PREFACE. 9' 

Zacheus took pains to know Jesus Christ, the 
fame of whose miracles, goodness, and wisdom had 
hlled the land, and he was rewarded. He ex- 
pressed his readiness to redress the wrongs he 
might have committed, and to give the one-half of 
his goods to the poor. If we would have knowl- 
edge and peace we must imitate his generosity. 

We hope that our little work will be well received 
by all Catholics who love their religion. Many 
there are who are constant readers of the New 
Testament, and yet know very little regarding the 
origin of the Christian religion. In the books 
of the New Testament we find much regarding 
the early history of the Church, but we do not 
find in them the order of the events therein relat- 
ed, the occasion which led to the writing of each 
book, or the scope intended by the writer. These 
books of the New Testament do not describe the 
places of the several occurrences related, nor the 
time when they were written. Catholics continu- 
ally hear non-Catholics speaking about the neces- 
sity of reading the New Testament as a rule of 
faith, and they are not always prepared to answer 
them properly. To them it will be pleasant to 
know whence the New Testament derives its au- 
thority, and what is the use that should be made 
of it. We hope, therefore, that they will welcome 
our book regarding the labors of the apostles. 
The principal source of our information has been, 
as it ought to be, the four Gospels, the Acts of the 
Apostles, and the Epistles of St. Paul. But we 
have quoted them as true books of history, not de- 
manding that our readers accept them as the work 



lO PREFACE. 

of inspired writers until we have demonstrated 
that the Catholic Church is the infallible guide 
appointed by Jesus Christ, and then we draw the 
inference that the books of the Gospel are inspired 
because the Church has declared it so. 



CONTENTS. 



PREFACE. 

Page 
In which I speak of my Life and of what was 
the Occasion of Writing this Little Work, 3 

CHAPTER L 

Jerusalem and the Jews. Public Life of Jesus 

Christ. His Miracles, etc., .... 17 

L— Jerusalem and the Jews, . . 18 

n. — Public Life of Jesus Christ, . . 20 

CHAPTER II. 

What Means has Christ Established to Per- 
petuate His Doctrine? .... 30 

CHAPTER III. 

How the New Testament came to be Written, 43 

I. — The Apostles in the Holy Land, . 43 

II.— St. Matthew, 44 

ni.~The Gospel of St. Mark, ... 47 



12 CONTENTS. 

Page 

IV. — The Gospel according to St. Luke, 48 

V. — The Acts of the Apostles, . . 50 

VI. — St. Paul and his Epistles, . .51 

CHAPTER IV. 

Progress of the Gospel through the Preaching 

of chosen Ministers, 56 

I. — Samaria, 56 

II. — St. Paul again, 59 

III.— Antioch, 61 

IV.— St. Paul and Barnabas at Cyprus, 
Perge, Antioch in Pissidia, Iconium, 
Lystra, Derbe, and back to Antioch, 64 

CHAPTER V. 

Progress of the Gospel, continued, . . -73 

I.— Philippi, 73 

II. — Thessalonica and Berea, . • • 79 

IIL_Athens, 81 

IV.— Corinth 83 

v.— Ephes-s, S6 

VI. — From Ephesus to Troas. Miletus. 
Tyre. Cesarea. Jerusalem, . . -93 

CHAPTER VI. 

St. Paul at Jerusalem. His Great Trials. He 
is sent to Cesarea, 100 



CONTENTS. 13 

Page 

CHAPTER VII. 

St. Paul in the Hands of the Roman Gover- 
nor at Cesarea. Defends himself against his 
Accusers. Appeals to Cassar. Pleads be- 
fore Governor Festus and King Agrippa, 109 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Paul is led towards Rome by Julius the Cen- 
turion. Their Shipwreck on the coast of 
the island of Melita. Arrives at Rome. 
Whilst Prisoner there During two Years he 
Preaches the Gospel. He writes to the 
Philippians, 118 

CHAPTER IX. 

Apostolate of St. Peter, . . . . 129 

CHAPTER X. 

The other Apostles, 140 

St. Andrew, 140 

St. Thomas, 142 

St. Matthew, 144 

SS. Philip and James, .... 145 

St. James the Greater, .... 148 

St. Bartholemew, 149 

SS. Simon and Jude, .... 150 



14 CONTENTS. 

Page 

St. Matthias, 151 

St. John, 152 

CHAPTER XI. 

St. Peter Head of the Church, . . .154 
I. — St. Peter Appointed Head of the 

Church, 154 

II. — St. Peter Acts as H ead of the Church , 1 64 

CHAPTER XII. 
Peter and Paul in Rome, 187 

CHAPTER XIII. 

After the Death of Peter and Paul. Peter's 
Successors. Destruction of Jerusalem, .189 

CHx\PTER XIV. 
St. John and his Gospel, 192 

CHAPTER XV. 

More about the Book named the New Testa- 
ment. Not the Rule of Faith. Its Use. Its 
Authority, 196 



CONTENTS. I 5 

Page 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Conclusion, 202 

SHORT WAY TO THE TRUTH. 

Prayer for Guidance unto Truth, . . 210 

List of Books that may be Consulted by the 

sincere Enquirer, 211 



LABORS OF THE APOSTLES. 




Chapter L 

JERUSALEM ANDTHE JEWS. PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 
HIS MIRACLES, ETC. 

INETEEN hundred years ago there appeared 
in Palestine an extraordinary being whose 
name was Jesus Christ, who performed 
great wonders, taught an admirable doctrine, 
ended His life by dying on a cross, and is said to 
have raised Himself from the dead and ascended 
into heaven by His own power. The truth of these 
assertions cannot be disproved, for all the facts 
related of Him are confirmed by monuments of all 
kinds ; history tells us that He has always had 
disciples, and their number to-day is counted 
by hundreds of millions, who all venerate His 
name and profess to worship Him, although all do 
not agree as to the nature of the worship due to 
Him. 

We are of the opinion that the life of Jesus 
Christ, as also all that He has taught, all that He 
has commanded, all that He has done, all that He 
has instituted for the welfare of men, can be ascer- 
tained without the sacred Book named the New 



1 8 JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 

Testament, namely, from monumenis alone. But, 
now, as I and my readers possess that sacred Book 
and are convinced of its accuracy in relating events, 
we shall make use of it as of an historical work in 
our search for the true religion. In order to under- 
stand the facts and sayings of the New Testament 
narrative, it is essential that we know something 
of the condition of the Jews and of other nations 
in the days of Christ and during the time which 
followed His death, to the end of the first century. 

I. — JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. 

I invite you, dear reader, to accompany me 
in spirit on a voyage round the Mediterranean 
Sea. Many are the sight-seekers to-day who go 
on this voyage merely for the sake of pleasure, 
but we start toward the East in search of relig- 
ion, invoking in our hearts, and desiring to find, 
the will of Him who made heaven and earth, all 
the things which we shall admire on our way, 
and who has created us immortal. Of what use is 
it to know the history of the world if we know 
not how to please Him who has created it for 
us? 

Let us go directly to Jerusalem, the city of 
which so many glorious things have been said. I 
do not mean the Jerusalem of our days; let us 
suppose that we arrive there eighteen hundred 
and ninety-two years ago, on the very day of the 
birth of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem. At that time 
the famous temple built by Zorobabel, and beautified 
by Herod, was yet standing, surrounded by other 
magnificent buildings, in the middle of an im- 



JERUSALEM AND THE JEWS. I9 

mense area, divided into many courts. The Jews 
still had their high-priest, their priests, their 
levites, their sacrifices, their sacred festivals, com- 
memorative of the miracles of God's goodness 
toward them. They still had a king, who en- 
joyed some power over them as a nation. But 
Judea had been conquered by the Romans ; they 
were the real masters, and had sent their tax- 
gatherers, their governors, and their soldiers 
among the chosen people of God. There was 
no idolatry among the Jews in those days ; they 
were much attached to the prescriptions of the law 
of Moses, and to many observances, introduced 
without authority, which some accounted to be of 
greater importance than the prescriptions of the 
law. It is well known that the Israelites of those 
days were expecting the Messias, promised by 
the prophets to their fathers, who, they imagined, 
was to be a great emperor who would extend his 
power over the whole world. Owing to their in- 
tercourse with the surrounding nations, the Jews 
had founded colonies in many parts of the world, 
but chiefly in neighboring countries, such as Egypt, 
Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and Alexandria. 
Some of these colonies, such as Antioch, Ephesus, 
Rome, and Alexandria were very numerous, and 
were generally allowed the practice of their relig- 
ious worship ; they were much attached to their 
rites and traditions, considered Jerusalem as the 
centre of their religion, and did not fail to send 
thither their offerings and deputations to par- 
ticipate in the sacrifices offered on the altar of 
the temple at the recurrence of great solemnities. 



20 PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. ' 

These Israelites of the dispersion also lived in 
the expectation of the Messias, and, like their 
brethren of Palestine, imagined that they alone 
were to remain the people of God, to the exclu- 
sion of all other men. 

Let us suppose, dear reader, that we arrive 
in Jerusalem on the very day Jesus Christ was 
born at Bethlehem. As we are in search of 
the true religion, we have no need to inquire into 
the history of His nativity and the other events 
of His life, until He will appear as a teacher in 
the world, about thirty years after His birth. 
Let us state, however, that we have no need to 
consult the New Testament to be convinced of 
what it relates regarding the events of Jesus 
Christ's early life. Thousands go yearly to the 
Holy Land, as pilgrims, or mere travellers ; 
they all see, as I have seen, the place wherein He 
was born at Bethlehem, the site of His dwelling 
in Egypt, the place in which He lived or worked at 
Nazareth, and all these facts narrated in the Gos- 
pel are further attested by works of art and 
magnificent structures. 

II. — PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Of the public life of Jesus Christ, which we find 
related in thousands of books besides that of the 
New Testament, it will suffice to record the fol- 
lowing principal traits. 

He was about thirty years of age when He man- 
ifested Himself to the world. In order to prepare 
the way before Him, St. John the Baptist appeared 
on the banks of the Jordan, drawing on him the 



PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 21 

attention of the Jews by his holy, penitential life, 
and commanding them to believe in Him Who was 
to come after him, Who was greater than himself. 
The multitudes who were baptized by St. John, 
confessing their si7is, did indeed see the Saviour, the 
Lamb of God Who takes aivay the sins of the worlds 
and many of them became at once the disciples of 
Jesus Christ. Of these He chose twelve, whom He 
named apostles, that they might go and teach men 
to observe all things whatsoever He had taught 
them, and to one of those He promised that 
upon him He would build His Church. During 
a little more than three years Jesus Christ did not 
cease to journey through all parts of Judea, Samar- 
ia, and Galilee, and preach to men that they must 
believe in His words and enter the Church He 
was founding, which He named the kingdom of 
heaven. The works which He performed as a 
proof of His divine mission were wonderful in- 
deed, for He caused the blind to see and the lame 
to walk ; He cured the lepers and paralytics, and 
cast out demons from the bodies of those whom 
they possessed ; He raised the dead, and raised 
Himself to life on the third day after His burial. 

More admirable still were the virtues of which 
He gave an example. See His tenderness of heart 
when He desired that little children should be al- 
lowed to come to Him,/d?r it is not the zvill of God 
that one of them should perish. 

See Him at the grave of Lazarus. 
" Now there was a certain man sick named Laza- 
rus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary and of 
Martha her sister. (And Mary was she that 



22 PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His 
feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was 
sick.) His sisters therefore sent to Him saying : 
Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. And 
Jesus hearing it, said to them : This sickness is 
not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the 
Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus 
loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. 
When He had heard therefore that he was sick 
He still remained in the same place two days ; 
then after that He said to His disciples : Let us go 
into Judea again. The disciples say to Him : 
Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone Thee, 
and goest Thou thither again ? Jesus answered : 
Are there not twelve hours of the day ? If a man 
walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he 
seeth the light of this world ; but if he walk in the 
night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in 
him. These things He said, and after that He 
said to them : Lazarus our friend sleepeth : but 1 
go that I may awake him out of sleep. His dis- 
ciples therefore said : Lord, if he sleep, he shall do 
well. But Jesus spoke of his death, and they 
thought that He spoke of the repose of sleep. Then 
therefore Jesus said to them plainly : Lazarus is 
dead : and I am glad for your sakes that I was 
not there, that you may believe ; but let us go to 
him. Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, 
said to his fellow-disciples : Let us also go, that 
we may die with Him. Jesus therefore came, 
and found that he had been four days already in 
the grave. (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem 
about fifteen furlongs off.) And many of the Jews 



PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 23 

were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them 
concerning their brother. 

'' Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that 
Jesus was come, went to meet Him : but Mary sat 
at home. Martha therefore said to Jesus : Lord, if 
Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But 
now also I know that whatsoever Thou wilt ask of 
God, God will give it Thee. Jesus saith to her: Thy 
brother shall rise again. Martha saith to Him : a 
know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at 
the last day. Jesus said to her : I am the resurrec- 
tion and the life : he that believeth in Me, al- 
though he be dead, shall live. And every one that 
liveth, and believeth in Me, shall not die forever. 
Believest thou this ? She saith to Him : Yea, 
Lord, I have believed that Thou art Christ the 
Son of the living God, Who art come into this 
world. x\nd when she had said these things, she 
went, and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: 
The Master is come and calleth for thee. She, as 
soon as she heard this, riseth quickly and cometh 
to Him : for Jesus was not yet come into the 
town, but He was still in that place where 
Martha had met Him. The Jews therefore, who 
were with her in the house and comforted her, 
when they saw Mary that she rose up speedily 
and went out, followed her, saying : She goeth to 
the grave to weep there. When Mary therefore 
was come where Jesus was, seeing Him, she fell 
down at His feet, and saith to Him: Lord, if Thou 
hadst been here, my brother had not died. Jesus 
therefore, when He saw her weeping, and the 
Jews that were come with her, weeping, groaned 



24 PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

in the spirit, and troubled Himself. And said : 
Where have you laid him ? They say to him : 
Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. The 
Jews therefore said : Behold how He loved him.** 
(St. John xi.) 

Listen to this other part which shows the ten- 
derness of the heart of Jesus Christ. 

*' In those days again when there was a great 
multitude, and had nothing to eat, calling His dis- 
ciples together, He saith to them: I have com- 
passion on the multitude : for behold they have 
now been with Me three days, and have nothing 
to eat, and if I shall send them away fasting to 
their home, they will faint in the way : for some 
of them came from afar off. And His disciples 
answered Him : From whence can any one fill 
them here with bread in the wilderness? And 
He asked them: How many loaves have ye ? Who 
said : Seven. And He commanded the multitude 
to sit down upon the ground. And taking the 
seven loaves, giving thanks He broke, and gave 
to His disciples for to set before them, and they 
set the7n before the people. And they had a few 
little fishes : and He blessed them, and commanded 
them to'be set before them. And they did eat and 
were filled, and they took up that which was left 
of the fragments, seven baskets. And they that 
had eaten were about four thousand : and He sent 
them away." (St. Mark viii.) 

Nothing however so deeply grieved the heart 
of Jesus Christ as the knowledge He had of the 
sad state of the souls of sinners, and in order to 
reclaim them He permitted them to approach 



PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 2$ 

Him, nay, to eat with Him. The Pharisees and 
scribes murmured, but far from heeding their 
uncharitable remarks. He continued to draw sin- 
ners to His bosom. 

" Now the publicans and sinners drew near to 
Him to hear Him ; and the Pharisees and the 
scribes murmured, saying: This Man receiveth 
sinners, and eateth with them. And He spoke to 
them this parable, saying : What man zs there of 
you that hath an hundred sheep : and if he shall 
lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine 
in the desert, and go after that which is lost until 
he find it? And when he hath found it, lay it up- 
on his shoulders rejoicing : and coming home call 
together his friends and neighbors, saying to 
them : Rejoice with me, because 1 have found my 
sheep that was lost? I say to you, that even so 
there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that 
doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just 
who need not penance. Or what woman having 
ten groats, if she lose one groat, doth not light a 
candle and sweep the house and seek diligently, 
until she find it? And when she hath found it, 
call together her friends and neighbors, saying: 
Rejoice with me, because I have found the groat 
which I had lost. So I say to you, there shall be 
joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing 
penance. 

" And He said : A certain man had two sons. 
And the younger of them said to his father: 
Father, give me the portion of substance that fall- 
eth to me. And he divided unto them his sub- 
stance. And not many days after, the younger 



26 PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

son gathering all together, went abroad into a far 
countr)% and there wasted his substance living 
riotously. And after he had spent all, there came 
a mighty famine in that country, and he began to 
be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of 
the citizens of that country. And he sent him in- 
to his farm to feed swine. And he would fain have 
filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat ; 
and no man gave unto him. And returning to 
himself, he said : How many hired servants in my 
father's house abound with bread, and I here per- 
ish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my 
father, and say to him : Father, I have sinned 
against heaven and before thee : I am now not 
worthy to be called thy son : make me as one of thy 
hired servants. And rising up he came to his 
father. And when he was yet a great way off, his 
father saw him, and was moved with compassion, 
and running to him fell upon his neck and kissed 
him. And the son said to him : Father, I have 
sinned against heaven and before thee : I am now 
not worthy to be called thy son. But the father 
said to his servants : Bring forth quickly the 
first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his 
hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring hither 
the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make 
merry : Because this my son was dead, and is 
come to life again : was lost, and is found. And 
they began to be merry. Now his elder son was 
in the field, and when he came and drew nigh to 
the house, he heard music and dancing. And he 
called one of the servants, and asked what these 
things meant. And he said to him : Thy brother 



PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 2^ 

is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, 
because he hath received him safe. And he was 
angry, and would not go in. His father therefore 
coming out began to entreat him. And he an- 
swering, said to his father: Behold, for so many 
years do T serve thee, and I have never trans- 
gressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast nev- 
er given me a kid to make merry with my friends. 
But as soon as this thy son is come, who hath de- 
voured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed 
for him the fatted calf. But he said to him : Son, 
thou art always with me, and all I have is thine. 
But it was fit that we should make merry and be 
glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is come 
to life again : he was lost, and is found. " (St. 
Luke XV.) 

The promises made by Jesus Christ prove His 
divine mission quite as much as the miracles which 
He performed. For instance, He sends His apos- 
tles, ,and then the seventy-two disciples, to an- 
nounce the approach of the kingdom of God, 
gives them power to cure diseases and to cast 
out devils, and they return rejoicing that even 
the devils were subject to them in His name. 

Just before His ascension He says to the twelve : 
" Go into the whole world and preach the gospel 
to every creature. . . .These signs shall follow those 
who believe : in My name they shall cast out 
devils ; they shall speak with new tongues. They 
shall take up serpents, and if they drink any dead- 
ly thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay 
their hands upon the sick and they shall recover." 
(St. Mark xvi.) 



28 PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Who but a divine messenger could think of giv- 
ing others such wonderful powers and of announc- 
ing facts so invincible? 

But the apostles, nay, their disciples in apos- 
tolic times, performed the miracles foretold by 
their Master. The shadow of St. Peter and the 
aprons of St. Paul sufficed to heal the sick, and 
many were the dead whom they raised to life in 
the name of Jesus Christ. 

More remarkable still are the prophecies which 
Jesus Christ made regarding Himself : "And Jesus, 
as He was going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve 
disciples apart, and said to them : Behold, we go 
up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be de- 
livered to the chief priests and the scribes, and 
they will condemn Him to death. And they will 
deliver Him up to the Gentiles to be mocked and 
scourged, and crucified, and the third day He 
will rise again." (St. Matt, xx.) 

It was only a few days after making this prophe- 
cy that every word of it was literally fulfilled. 
By Judas He was betrayed and delivered to the 
chief priests and scribes. They, after judging Him 
guilty of death, delivered Him to Pilate and his 
satellites, who were Gentiles. These scourged 
Him at the pillar; they mocked Him, saying: 
" Prophesy, O Christ, who is he who struck Thee." 
By the order of a Gentile, and at the hands of 
Gentiles He was crucified and died upon the cross ; 
but still more incredible, if we were not convinced 
of it by unquestionable evidence, Jesus did really 
come out of the grave. 

The writer has seen the empty grave of Jesus 



PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 29 

Christ, and in one sense at least he can declare in 
the language of St. John : " That which we have 
seen and heard we declare to you." 

From the preceding pages it follows that Jesus 
Christ was sent from God, and consequently we 
are bound to believe what He has taught. 



Chapter II. 

WHAT MEANS HAS CHRIST ESTABLISHED TO PERPETUATE 
HIS DOCTRINE? 

to this question we shall answer by giving 
facts. 
In the south-western part of the city of 
Jerusalem is the celebrated mountain of Sion. 
After the ascension of their Master into heaven, 
the eleven apostles had assembled in a large 
room of a building standing on that mountain, 
passing their time in fasting and prayer as a prep- 
aration for the reception of the Holy Ghost, 
whom He had promised to them. Of this extra- 
ordinary event we have the following relation in 
the Acts of the Apostles. 

" And when the days of the Pentecost were ac- 
complished, they were all together in one place. 
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, 
as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the 
whole house where they were sitting. And there 
appeared to them parted tongues as it were of 
lire, and it sat upon every one of them : And they 
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they be- 
gan to speak with divers tongues according as 
the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. 

" Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, 

30 



PERPETUATING CHRIST'S DOCTRINE. 3I 

devout men out of every nation under heaven. 
And when this was noised abroad, the multitude 
came together, and were confounded in mind, 
because that every man heard them speak in his 
own tongue. And they were all amazed and 
wondered, saying : Behold, are not all these that 
speak Galileans ; and how have we heard every 
man our own tongue w^herein we were born ? Par- 
thians and Medes, and Elamites, and inhabitants 
of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus 
and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt and the 
parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of 
Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes and Arabi- 
ans : we have heard them speak in our own 
tongues the wonderful works of God, And they 
were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to 
another : What meaneth this ? But others mock- 
ing said : 1 hese men are full of new wine. But 
Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his 
voice, and spoke to them : Ye men of Judea, and 
all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to 
you and with your ears receive my words. For 
these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is 
but the third hour of the day. But this is that 
which was spoken of by the Prophet Joel : And 
it shall come to pass, in the last days (saith the 
Lord) I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh : 
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 
and your young men shall see visions, and your 
old men shall dream dreams. And upon My ser- 
vants indeed, and upon My handmaids will I pour 
out in those days of My Spirit, and they shall 
prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heaven 



32 WHAT MEANS HAS CHRIST ESTABLISHED 

above, and signs on the earth beneath, blood and 
fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be 
turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, 
before the great and manifest day of the Lord 
come. And it shall come to pass : that whosoever 
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 
Ye men of Israel, hear these words : Jesus of Naz- 
areth, a man approved of God among you by mir- 
acles and wonders and signs, which God did by 
Him in the midst of you, as you also know. This 
same being delivered up, by the determinate coun- 
sel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands 
of wicked men have crucified and slain : Whom 
God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of 
hell, as it was impossible that He should be holden 
by it. For David saith concerning Him : I fore- 
saw the Lord before my face always: because He 
is at my right hand that I may not be moved. For 
this my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath 
rejoiced ; moreover my flesh also shall rest in 
hope, because Thou wilt not leave my soul in 
hell, nor suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. 
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life : 
and Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy 
countenance. Ye men, brethren, let me freely 
speak to you of the Patriarch David, that he died, 
and was buried ; and his sepulchre is with us at 
the present day. Whereas therefore he was a 
prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with 
an oath, that of the fruit of his loins one should sit 
upon his throne. Foreseeing this, he spoke of the 
resurrection of Christ. For neither was He left in 
hell, neither did His flesh see corruption. This 



TO PERPETUATE HIS DOCTRINE ? 33 

Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are 
witnesses. Being exalted therefore by the right 
hand of God, and having received of the Father 
the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath poured 
forth this which you see and hear. For David as- 
cended not into heaven, but he himself said : The 
Lord said to my Lord, sit Thou on My right hand : 
until I make Thy enemies Thy foot-stool. Therefore 
let all the house of Israel know most certainly 
that God hath made both Lord and Christ this 
same Jesus, whom you have crucified. 

" Now when they had heard these things, they 
had compunction in their heart, and said to Peter 
and to the rest of the apostles : What shall we do, 
men and brethren? But Peter j^^V/ to them : Do 
penance, and be baptized every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your 
sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your 
children, and to all that are afar off, whomsoever 
the Lord our God shall call. And with very 
many other words did he testify and exhort them, 
saying : Save yourselves from this perverse gen- 
eration. They therefore that received his word 
were baptized, and there were added in that day 
about three thousand souls." (Acts ii.) 

Here we have about three thousand persons 
converted to Jesus Christ, whom they had known 
standing near the rock of Calvary on which He 
was crucified ; and they were added to the number, 
already great, of His other disciples. Let the 
reader notice that they were converted by the 
preaching of St. Peter. 



34 WHAT MEANS HAS CHRIST ESTABLISHED 

It was also by preaching that five thousand 
more persons became disciples of Jesus Christ. 

"And all they that believed were together, and 
had all things common. Their possessions and 
goods they sold, and divided them to all accord- 
ing as every one had need. And continuing daily 
with one accord in the temple, and breaking 
bread from house to house, they took their meat 
with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising 
God and having favor with all people. And the 
Lord increased daily together such as should be 
saved. 

" Now Peter and John went up into the temple, 
at the ninth hour of prayer. And a certain man 
who was lame from his mother's womb was car- 
ried ; whom they laid every day at the gate of the 
temple, which is called Beautiful, that he might 
ask alms of them that went into the temple. He, 
when he had seen Peter and John about to go into 
the temple, asked to receive an alms. But Peter 
with John fastening his eyes upon him, said : Look 
upon us. But he looked earnestly upon them, 
hoping that he should receive something of them. 
But Peter said : Silver and gold I have none : but 
what I have I give thee : In the name of Jesus 
Christ of Nazareth, arise, and walk. And taking 
him by the right hand, he lifted him up, and forth- 
with his feet and soles received strength. And he 
leaping up stood, and walked and went in with 
them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and 
praising God. And all the people saw him walk- 
ing and praising God. And they knew him that 
it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful 



TO PERPETUATE HIS DOCTRINE ? 35 

Gate of the temple : and they were filled with 
wonder and amazement at that which had hap- 
pened to him. And as he held Peter and John, all 
the people ran to them to the porch which is called 
Solomon's, greatly wondering. But Peter seeing, 
made answer to the people : Ye men of Israel, 
why wonder you at this ? or why look 3^ou upon 
us, as if by our strength or power we had made 
this man to walk ? The God of Abraham, and the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of 
our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus, whom 
you indeed delivered up and denied before the 
face of Pilate, when he judged He should be re- 
leased. But you denied the Holy One and the 
Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto 
you. But the Author of life you killed, whom 
God had raised from the dead, of which we are 
witnesses. And in the faith of His name, this 
man whom you hav^e seen and known hath His 
name strengthened ; and the faith which is by Him 
hath given this perfect soundness in the sight of 
you all. And now, brethren, I know that you 
did it through ignorance, as did also your rulers. 
But those things which God before had showed by 
the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ 
should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Be penitent, 
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be 
blotted out. That when the times of refreshment 
shall come from the presence of the Lord, and He 
shall send Him who hath been preached unto you, 
Jesus Christ. Whom heaven indeed must re- 
ceive until the times of the restitution of all 
things, which God had spoken bv the mouth 



36 WHAT MEANS HAS CHRIST ESTABLISHED 

of His holy prophets from the beginning of 
the world. For Moses said : A Prophet shall 
the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, 
like unto me; Him you shall hear according to all 
things whatsoever He shall speak to you . A nd it shall 
be, that every soul which will not hear that Prophet 
shall be destroyed from among the people. And all 
the prophets from Samuel and afterwards, who 
have spoken, have told of these days. You are the 
children of the prophets and of the testament 
which God made to our fathers, saying to Abra- 
ham : And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the 
earth be blessed. To you first God, raising up His 
Son, hath sent Him to bless you : that every one 
may convert himself from his wickedness. 

" And as they were speaking to the people, the 
priests and the officer of the temple and the Sad- 
ducees came upon them, being grieved that 
they taught the people, and preached in Jesus the 
resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands 
upon them, and put them in hold till the next day : 
for it was now evening. But many of them who 
had heard the word believed : and the number of 
the men was made five thousand." (Acts ii., iii.) 

These first Christians converted by the preach- 
ing of St. Peter were remarkable and remarked 
by the fraternal charity they entertained for one 
another. And all that believed were together, 
and had all things in common. They sold their 
possessions and goods, and distributed ihem to all, 
as every one had need. They still frequented 
the temple, and joined in the Jewish observances 
which hitherto had not been forbidden, but they 



TO PERPETUATE HIS DOCTRINE ? 37 

daily persevered with one accord in (a given place 
of) the temple, they persevered (in private houses) 
in the communication of the breaking of bread 
(the holy Eucharist) and in prayer ; and on account 
of their extraordinary fervor and charity they 
were in favor with all the people, and the Lord 
daily increased together those to be saved. 

There were no religious discussions amongst 
the disciples of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. " They 
all persevered in the doctrine of the apostles ; " this 
was their rule of faith. And these Christians of 
Jerusalem, taught by the word alone, without the 
Bible, were men of the most exalted virtue. 

'' And the multitude of believers had but one 
heart and one soul; neither did any one say that 
aught of the things which he possessed was his 
own; but all things were common unto them. 
And with great power did the apostles give testi- 
mony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Our 
Lord ; and great grace was in them all. For 
neither was there any one needy among them. 
For as many as were owners of lands or houses 
sold them, and brought the price of the things 
they sold, and laid it down before the feet of the 
apostles. i\nd distribution was made to every 
one according as he had need. 

" And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed 
Barnabas (which is by interpretation, the son of 
consolation), a Levite, a Cyprian born, having land, 
sold it, and brought the price, and laid it at the 
feet of the apostles." (Acts iv.) 

Prisons, scourgings, persecutions of all kinds 
could not check the zeal of the apostles, nor pre- 



38 WHAT MEANS HAS CHRIST ESTABLISHED 

vent great numbers of people from becoming 
Christians. 

" And b}^ the hands of the apostles were many 
signs and wonders wrought among the people. 
And they were all with one accord in Solomon's 
porch. 

" But of the rest no man durst join himself unto 
them : but the people magnified them. And the 
multitude of men and women who believed in the 
Lord was more increased. Insomuch that they 
brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid 
them on beds and couches, that when Peter came, 
his shadow at the least might overshadow any of 
them, and they might be delivered from their 
infirmities. 

*'And there came also together to Jerusalem a 
multitude out of the neighboring cities, bringii g 
sick persons and such as were troubled with un- 
clean spirits : who were all healed. Then the 
high-priest rising up, and all they that were with 
him (which is the heresy of the Sadducees), were 
filled with envy : And they laid hands on the 
apostles, and put them in the common prison. 
But an angel of the Lord by night opening the 
doors of the prison, and leading them out, said : 
Go, and standing speak in the temple to the peo- 
ple all the words of this life. Who having heard 
t/its, early in the morning entered into the tem- 
ple, and taught. And the high-priest coming, 
and they that were with him, called together the 
council, and all the ancients of the children of 
Israel : and they sent to the prison to have them 
brought. But when the ministers came, and 



TO PERPETUATE HIS DOCTRINE? 39 

opening the prison, found them not there, they 
returned and told, saying : The prison indeed 
we found shut with all diligence, and the keepers 
standing before the doors, but opening it, we 
found no man within. Now when the officer of 
the temple and the chief priests heard these words, 
they were in doubt concerning them, what would 
come to pass. But one came and told them : Be- 
hold the men whom you put in prison are in the 
temple standing, and teaching the people. Then 
went the officer with the ministers and brought 
them without violence : for they feared the people 
lest they should be stoned. And when they had 
brought them, they set them before the council ; 
and the high-priest asked them, saying : Com- 
manding we commanded you that you should not 
teach in this name : and behold you have filled 
Jerusalem with your doctrine : and you have a 
mind to bring the blood of this man upon us. But 
Peter and the apostles answering said: . We 
ought to obey God rather than men. The God 
of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you 
put to death, hanging Him upon a tree. Him 
hath God exalted with His right hand tobe prince 
and saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and 
remission of sins. And we are witnesses of these 
things and the Holy Ghost whom God hath given 
to all that obev Him. 

" When they had heard these things they were 
cut to the heart and they thought to put them to 
death." (Acts v.) 

Although the chief priests abandoned for the 
time their design of doing away with the lives of 



2pO WHAT MEANS HAS CHRIST ESTABLISHED 

the apostles, they resolved to punish them by 
scourging. For *' they called in the apostles, and 
after they had scourged them, they charged them 
that they should not speak at all in the name of 
Jesus, and they dismissed them. And they indeed 
went from the presence of the council rejoicing 
that they were accounted worthy to suffer re- 
proach for the name of Jesus. And every day 
they ceased not, in the temple and from house to 
house, to teach and preach Christ Jesus." (Acts v.) 

Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy 
Ghost, was one of the seven deacons chosen by 
the Christians of Jerusalem to attend to the tem- 
poral matters of the Church, and he became an 
object of hatred to the enemies of Christ on ac- 
count of the great signs and wonders which he 
did among the people. 

" Now there arose some of that which is called 
the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyren- 
ians, and the Alexandrians, and of them that were 
of Ciliciaand Asia, disputing with Stephen. And 
they were not able to resist the wisdom and the 
spirit that spoke. 

" Then they suborned men to say they had heard 
him speak words of blasphemy against Moses and 
against God. And they stirred up the people, 
and the elders, and the scribes ; and running to- 
gether they took him, and brought him to the 
council. And they set up false witnesses, who 
said, this man ceaseth not to speak words against 
the holy place and the law. For we have heard 
him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy 
this place, and shall change the traditions which 



TO PERPETUATE HIS DOCTRINE ? 4I 

Moses delivered unto us. And all that sat in the 
council, looking on him, saw his face as if it had 
been the face of an angel. Then the high-priest 
said : Are these things so ? " 

Stephen, at the invitation of the priest, delivered 
a splendid oration in his own defence, and ended 
by saying : 

" Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and 
ears, ye always resist the Holy Ghost : as your fa- 
thers did, so do ye also. Which of the prophets 
have not your fathers persecuted ? And they have 
slain them who foretold of the coming of the Just 
One ; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and 
murderers ; who have received the law b}^ the dis- 
position of angels, and have not kept it. 

'' Now, hearing these things, they were cut to the 
heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him. 

'' But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking 
up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, 
and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And 
he said : Behold, I see the heavens opened, and 
the Son of man standing on the right hand of 
God. 

'' And they, crying out with a loud voice, stopped 
their ears, and with one accord ran violently up- 
on him ; and casting him forth without the city, 
they stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their 
garments at the feet of a young man whose name 
was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon 
the Lord, and saying : Lord Jesus, receive my spir- 
it. And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud 
voice, saying : Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep 



42 PERPETUATING CHRIST'S DOCTRINE. 

in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his 
death." (Acts vi., vii.) 

Many other examples might be adduced to show 
the fervor of the apostles and Christians of Jeru- 
salem amidst persecutions. The world knows of 
the imprisonment of St. Peter, of the martyrdom 
of St. James. Such was, however, the efficacy of 
the word of God preached by the apostles and 
the deacons that '* the word of the Lord increased ; 
and the number of the disciples was increased in 
Jerusalem exceedingly. A great multitude of the 
priests obeyed the faith." 

Great as was the number of the disciples in 
Jerusalem, there was no want of order and organ- 
ization in the Church. There was order in tem- 
poral matters in the distribution of alms, as we 
have seen ; there was order in the administration 
of Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation, as can 
be shown, and the apostles, with Peter at their 
head, governed the community, making it their 
chief concern to pray and to preach the word of 
God. Jerusalem was not many years without a 
bishop in the person of St. James, but history does 
not record in what other cities permanent bishops 
were appointed by the apostles. 



Chapter III. 

HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 
I. — THE APOSTLES IN THE HOLY LAND. 

FTER the ascension of their Master into heav- 
en, the apostles remained for eight or 
twelve years amongst their countrymen in 
Jerusalem and the other parts of the countr}^ oc- 
cupied by the Jews. By thus remaining together 
and laboring in the same held, they acted accord- 
ing to the directions of Jesus Christ, and qualified 
themselves to teach the same doctrine, introduce 
the same rites throughout the world, and establish 
a perfect organization among themselves for the 
founding and the government of the Church. 

During these eight or more years which preceded 
the parting of the apostles and their dispersion 
through the then known world, they administered 
the sacraments to the members of the Church, 
performed special rites and ceremonies for public 
and private worship, and instead of the feasts 
of the Jews they had special festivals to com- 
memorate the principal events in the life of Jesus 
Christ, and established devout practices which 
have come down to us, and are known generally 
in the Church. 

It requires no effort of the imagination for us to 

43 



44 HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 

believe that the feelings of the early Christians 
toward Jesus Christ and the places wherein He 
lived or taught were the same as those we enter- 
tain toward them after the lapse of so many 
ages: and as in all countries men love to speak 
of their benefactors, to raise monuments over 
their remains, and to visit their graves, so in 
Jerusalem and in other places of the Holy Land 
the apostles were wont to visit the garden of 
Gethsemani, the rock empurpled by the blood of 
their Master, His empty sepulchre, the place 
whence He ascended to heaven. This seems to be 
sufficiently proved by other evidence, namely, the 
uniformity which exists in the whole world, in the 
rites and practices of devotion in the one Church 
that is truly apostolic, that is, in the only one 
Church which goes back to the days of Jesus 
Christ. 

Was there no testament written at that time ? 
There was not. The events of the life of Jesus 
Christ, the doctrine which He preached, the mir- 
acles which He performed were related and ex- 
plained b}^ those whom He had commissioned to 
teach : there was an oral Gospel, but not a writ- 
ten one. 

II. — ST. MATTHEWS 

This is a name quite familiar to you, dear reader, 
for I imagine I see you standing in Jerusalem 
holding his Gospel in your hands on the ver}^ spot 
where he ate the last supper with the Lord, or on 
that other place where he saw Him going up to 
heaven. If from Jerusalem you follow the west 



HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 45 

side of the river Jordan in a northerly direction, 
you will reach Capharnaum, a city on the lake of 
Tiberias, where the evangelist St. Matthew lived 
in the days of Jesus Christ. This Capharnaum was 
a place of importance at the time of which we 
write, situated on the lake shore, in a very fertile 
plain, at a point where merchants and travellers 
from Damascus and the Mediterranean coun- 
tries had to pass on their way to Jerusalem and 
Egypt. 

Matthew lived here, and by profession was a 
publican of the lowest order, that is, he was one 
of those men employed by the Romans to do the 
actual work of collecting the customs. Such 
men were everywhere in bad repute on ac- 
count of their dishonest exactions, but a Jewish 
publican was especially odious to his countrymen, 
as one who had sold himself to collect a tribute 
the payment of which was a sign of his people's 
submission to a foreign yoke. 

St. Matthew was a Galilean, the son of a Jew ; 
the language which he principally spoke was the 
Syro-Chaldaic. He left his counter in Caphar- 
naum at the invitation of Jesus Christ, followed 
Him as a disciple, and had the honor soon 
after to be chosen as one of the twelve apostles. 
After the ascension of Our Lord, Matthew, like 
the other apostles, remained about Jerusalem at 
least eight years, preaching chiefly to his country- 
men in their own language. 

St. Matthew was the first to write about the 
life of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of St. Matthew, 
which is the first book of the New Testament, 



46 HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 

was written by him. Being about to separate 
from the other apostles, and quit Jerusalem to go 
perhaps to Ethiopia to preach Jesus Christ, he de- 
cided to write chiefly for the Hebrew converts in 
Palestine ; for he generally takes it for granted 
that his readers are acquainted with Jewish cus- 
toms, cities, places, and phraseology : he promi- 
nently sets before them Jesus as the Messias, the 
Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the Lion of the 
tribe of Juda ; he is most anxious that his readers 
would notice, as they occur, the fulfilments of the 
Old Testament prophecies ; he gives at length the 
discourses in which are so severely denounced 
the sins which caused the Jewish rulers to reject 
the truth. 

If you ever go to the Holy Land, and will take 
the trouble to read the Gospel of Matthew in 
the very places where occurred the events which 
he relates, you will derive from that reading 
much instruction and edification ; but you must 
bear in mind that for at least eight years there 
was no Gospel of St. Matthew to be read, not 
even in Palestine, and that many years passed 
away before it was generally known outside of 
that country. 

The Gospel of St. Matthew was written in He- 
brew or Sy ro-Chaldaic, and, as we remarked, for the 
benefit of the Jewish converts of Palestine, whence 
we may infer that it was not written particularly 
for our use or that of other men who were to be born 
after his days. It supposes in the reader a knowl- 
edge of a state of things with which we are not 
acquainted. Many years after the appearance of 



HUW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 47 

St. Matthew's Gospel, that is, about the year 65, we 
find that an Epistle to the Hebrews was written by 
the great St. Paul, but this was written to the He- 
brews of the whole w^orld, not to those of Jerusalem 
only, and in this admirable letter we find that the 
disciples of Jesus Christ had in every place an al- 
tar, " whereof they who serve the tabernacle [that 
is, the disciples of Moses] have no right to eat." 
They were recommended by the great Apostle to 
remember their prelates, who had spoken to them 
the word of God, to obey them, and be subject 
to them. He invites them to salute their prelates 
and all the saints, and ends by saying, "The breth- 
ren of Italy salute you. Grace with you all. 
Amen." 

The prelates of the Church in the days of St. 
Paul preached the word of God, the faithful obeyed 
their prelates, and received Communion from the al- 
tar of the Church ; charity andunity of doctrine ex- 
isted among the Christians in all parts, from Jerusa- 
lem to Rome. How strange, then, the assertion of 
those who continue to declare that the Bible alone 
is the rule of faith and morals ! This most assuredly 
was not the means established by the Son of God 
to teach His divine doctrine and precepts. 

III. — THE GOSPEL OF ST. MARK. 

St. Mark was an inhabitant of Jerusalem, the son 
of a certain Mary, in whose house the disciples 
were wont to assemble. He was a nephew or 
cousin of St. Barnabas, and a disciple of St. Peter. 

Towards the end of his life he was with the prince 
of the apostles in Rome, and is called by some of 



48 HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 

the Fathers the interpreter, that is, the secretary of 
St. Peter. Many of the faithful of Rome having 
requested Mark to leave them in writing what he 
knew of the teachings of his master, he complied 
with their desire, and wrote the Gospel which bears 
his name, and St. Peter approved it and ordered it 
to be read in the assemblies of Christians. Hence 
this Gospel is sometimes called the Gospel of St. 
Peter. The persons for whom this book was 
written were principally Gentiles, as it represents 
the teaching of St. Peter to the Romans, whom he 
desired to convince of the almighty power of Jesus 
Christ. 

This Gospel, according to the opinion most- 
ly held, was published about the year of Our 
Lord 66. 

IV. — THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE. 

The writer was the person whom St. Paul, in his 
Epistle to the Colossians, calls '' Luke, the beloved 
physician." (Col. iv. 14.) From the same epistle 
we gather that he was a Gentile convert ; for St. 
Paul marks him off from those of the circumcision. 
Eusebius says St. Luke was a native of Antioch. 
Very possibly he had become a proselyte to Juda- 
ism before his conversion to Christianity, for he 
shows himself familiar with Jewish customs, and 
makes use of Jewish modes of computing time. 

From the use of the pronoun " we," in Acts xvi. 
10, we gather that St. Luke began to be St. Paul's 
companion at Troas, during the Apostle's second 
missionary journey ; that he went with St. Paul 
to Philippi ; that he there awaited the Apostle's 



MOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 49 

return from Corinth, and accompanied him to 
Troas, Miletus, Tyre, Cesarea, and Jerusalem. 

During St. Paul's imprisonment at Cesarea, it is 
probable that St. Luke was one of those that minis- 
tered and came to him. He was with St. Paul in 
the perils at sea, described in Acts xxvii., and was 
with him some time during the two imprison- 
ments at Rome. (See Coloss. iv. 14, and 2 Tim. 
iv. II.) 

One of the points to be noted in this Gospel is 
the universality of its scope. It begins by profess- 
ing to be written for the benefit of one Theophilus, 
— probably a Gentile Christian living out of 
Palestine — that he might have a trustworthy 
record of the facts on which his faith was built ; but 
it goes far beyond Theophilus. Its great lesson 
is, that *' God is not the God of the Jews only, but 
also of the Gentiles," and sent His Son " to be 
a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, as well as 
to be the glory of His people Israel ; " that ** it be- 
hooved Christ to suffer, that penance and remission 
of sins should be preached in His name unto all 
nations." 

St. Luke's Gospel has been associated with St. 
Paul, as St. Mark's with St. Peter. It is certainly 
a striking fact that the account of the institution 
of the Blessed Eucharist in the third Gospel 
should be, almost word for word, the same as that 
which St Paul tells us he received from the Lord, 
(i Cor. xi. 23-26.) 

We gather from the first verse of the Acts of 
the Apostles that this Gospel was written before 
the Acts, and we may presume with probability, 



50 HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 

from the last verse of the Acts, that the latter 
treatise was not written later than two years after 
St. Paul's first arrival in Rome. Hence it would 
seem that the date of St Luke's Gospel must be 
some time before A. D. 63 or 64. 

We think it well not to notice here the fourth 
Gospel, that is, the Gospel of St. John, but to give 
at once an idea of the other great book written by 
St. Luke, viz., the Acis of the Apostles, for this 
book will be most useful for us on our voyage 
round the Mediterranean sea. 

V. — THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 

The Actsof the Apostlesisthe fifth canonical book 
of the New Testament and was written by Luke as 
a sequel to his Gospel; it is a history in part of the 
early Church from A.D. 30 to 63. (Luke i. 1-4 ; Acts 
i. I.) It is not, however, a record of the acts of all 
the apostles, but chiefly of those of Peter and Paul. 
In his Gospel Luke describes the founding of 
Christianity, and what Christ taught and suffered ; 
in the Acts he illustrates its diffusion, selecting 
what was best fitted to show how the Holy Spirit 
guided and blessed the first followers of Christ in 
building the Church. Beginning where his Gos- 
pel ends, he narrates the ascension of the Saviour 
and the conduct of the disciples thereupon ; the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit according to Christ's 
promises ; the miraculous preaching of the apos- 
tles, their amazing success, and the persecutions 
raised against them, with other events of moment 
to the Church at Jerusalem, till they were scattered 
abroad. He then shows how Judaism was sup- 



HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 5 I 

erseded, and how Peter was led to receive to 
Christian fellowship converts from the Gentiles. 
The second division of the narrative is devoted to 
the conversion and calling- of the apostle Paul, his 
missionary zeal, labors, and sufferings, chiefly 
among- the Gentiles, and ends with his second 
year's imprisonment at Rome. 

Luke himself witnessed, to a great extent, the 
events he narrates. (See Acts xvi. 1 1 ; xx. to xxviii.) 
His Greek is the most classical in the New 
Testament, and the view he gives of the spirit of 
the early Church, so many of whose members had 
'' been with the Lord," is invaluable. The book 
was probably written A. D. 63 or 64, that is, soon 
after the time at which the narration terminates. 

The place where it was written is unknown, but it 
may have been Rome. Its genuineness was univer- 
sally recognized by the early Church, and is con- 
firmed by the searching criticism of modern times 
and the declaration of the Church. 

VI. — ST. PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES. 

Next to the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, 
St. Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles, our best 
source of information regarding the work of the 
apostles and the history of the early Church is 
contained in the Epistles of St. Paul. 

This extraordinary man was born at Tarsus in 
Cilicia, and inherited from his father the privileges 
of a Roman citizen. His parents belonged to the 
tribe of Benjamin, and brought up their son as " a 
Hebrew ofthe Hebrews." (Philipp.iii. 5.) Tarsus was 
highly distinguished for learning and culture, and 



52 HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 

no doubt Paul diligently availed himself of the op- 
portunities for improvement it afforded. At a suit- 
able age he v^as sent to Jerusalem to complete his 
education in the school of Gamaliel, the most dis- 
tinguished Rabbi of that age. It does not appear 
that he v^as in Jerusalem during the ministry of 
Jesus Christ, and it was perhaps after his return 
to Tarsus that he learned the art of tent-making, 
in accordance v^ith a general practice among 
the Jews and their maxim, '' He that does not teach 
his son a useful handicraft teaches him to steal." 

We next find him at Jerusalem, apparently about 
thirty years of age, high in the confidence of the 
leading men of the nation. He had profited by the 
instructions of Gamaliel, and had become learned 
in the law; yielding himself to the strictest dis- 
cipline of the sect of the Pharisees, he had become 
a firm defender of Judaism, and a bitter enemy of 
Christianity. (Acts viii. 3 ; xxvi. 9-1 1.) After his con- 
version he gave to Christ his whole heart and soul, 
his mind, might, and strength, and devoted all his 
powers to the defence and propagation of the Gos- 
pel of Christ, more particularly among the Gen- 
tiles. The following is a tableoftheorder of events 
in the life of St. Paul, but the precise dates of said 
events are not agreed upon by chronologists. 

St. Paul's conversion (Acts ix.), in the twenty-first 
year ot Tiberias. About the 3^ear A. D. 36. 

He goes to Arabia and returns to Damascus 
(Gal. i. 17), and in the third year escapes from 
Damascus and visits Jerusalem. (Acts ix. 23, 20.) 
About the year 39. 

From Jerusalem he goes to Tarsus (Acts ix. 30), 



HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 53 

and after several years of labor in Cilicia and 
Syria (Gal. i. 21), during- which it is supposed most 
of the sufferings occurred which are mentioned in 
2 Cor. ix. 24-26, he went with Barnabas to An- 
tioch, in Syria (xi. 25,26), where they labored dur- 
ing the year. About the year 44. 

From Antioch he is sent with Barnabas to Jeru- 
salem (his second visit), to carry relief to the 
brethren stricken by the famine, and returns to 
Antioch. (Acts xi. 30.) 

First great missionary tour with Barnabas to 
Cyprus, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and 
Derbe, and returning through the same places and 
Attaha to Antioch. (Acts xiii., xiv.) From 45 to 48. 

Third visit to Jerusalem with Barnabas to con- 
sult regarding circumcision, and return to Antioch. 
(Acts XV. 2, 30.) About the year 50. 

Second missionarj^ tour from Antioch through 
Cilicia, Derbe, Lystra, Phrygia, Galatia, Troas, Ne- 
apolis, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, i\thens, and 
Corinth, where he finds Aquila. (Acts xv. sq.) 
A. D. 54. 

After eighteen months at Corinth, he makes his 
forth visit to Jerusalem, by Cenchrea, Ephesus, and' 
Cesarea, and returns to Antioch. (Acts xviii. 11- 
22.) A. D. 50 (?) 

Third missionary tour through Galatia and Phry- 
gia, arriving at Ephesus. (Acts xix. i.) About 55. 

After two years at Ephesus, goes through Troas 
and Macedonia to Corinth. (Acts xx.) 

Fifth visit to Jerusalem from Corinth, by Philip- 
pi, Troas, Miletus, Tyre, Ptolemais, and Cesarea. 
(Acts xxi. 3-2!.) About A.D. 60. 



54 HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 

After two years' imprisonment at Jerusalem and 
Cesarea he sails from Sidon, by M3^ra, Fairhaven, 
and to Malta, where he is shipwrecked ; in the 
spring he proceeds to Rome. (Acts xxi.) A.D. 63 (?) 

Two years' imprisonment in Rome and release. 
(Acts xxvii. 30.) About A.D. 65 (?) 

After laboring, as some think, in Spain (Rom. 
XV. 24-28), also in Ephesus, Macedonia, Crete, Asia 
Minor, and Nicopolis, he is again a prisoner at 
Rome, awaiting martyrdom, which occurred June 
29, A.D. 6^], 

The Epistles of St. Paul, of which there are four- 
teen, were probably written in the following order: 









A.D. 


1. Thessalonians, from Corinth, 




52 


2. 


k u 




52 


Galatians, ' 


' Corinth or Ephesus 




52 


1. Corinthians, 


' Ephesus, 


Beginning of 


56 


1. Timothy, 


' Macedonia, 




56 


Titus, 


I (1 


Near end of 


56 


2. Corinthians, 


I u 


About October, 


57 


Romans, 


'' Corinth, 


February, 


58 


Ephesians, 


" Rome, 


April, 
May, 


61 


2. Timothy, 


'' Rome, 


61 


Phihppians, 


'• Rome, 


Before the end of 


62 


Colossians, 


'• Rome, 


u u ,. u 


62 


Philemon, 


Rome, 


u u »t u 


62 


Hebrews, 


" Italy, 


Spring, 


63 



Forget not, dear reader, that we are in search of 
the means established by Jesus Christ to teach a 
knowledge of His religion. Remember, now, 
that there was no Gospel written before the 3'ear 
42, that the first three Gospels were written in 
different parts of the world, and in languages un- 
intelligible to the other nations. Remember that 
the First Epistle of St. Paul was not written before 
the year 52, and that the Gospel of St. John did 
not appear till the end of the first century, yet 



HOW THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 55 

there were Christian communities, and some of 
them very numerous, all over the Roman Empire, 
whence you must infer that they were converted 
without the use of the books of the Gospel. 

Again, if you once more go over the short ac- 
count given above of the life of St. Paul, and 
compare it with the table of his Epistles, you will 
become convinced that his letters were written to 
churches which he had founded by preaching, or to 
some of his disciples who had need of his direction, 
or that they were answers to questions addressed 
to him. You and I, dear reader, consider the 
Epistles of St. Paul as a great treasure, left to the 
Church by an especial design of God, but the 
great Apostle had none but private objects in view 
when he wrote them, and the Church had existed 
many years without them. 



Chapter IV. 

PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL THROUGH THE PREACHING OF 
CHOSEN MINISTERS. 

I. — SAMARIA. 



OR a few years after the great event of Pen- 
tecost, when so many thousand souls were 
converted to Jesus Christ by the preaching 
of St. Peter, the Church enjoyed peace in Jerusa- 
lem, chiefly because the Christians and their teach- 
ers continued to a great extent to practise the ob- 
servances of the law of Moses. During this time 
many outside the city in the Holy Land embraced 
the religion of Jesus Christ, but after the death of 
St. Stephen a great persecution was raised against 
the Church. 

Stephen was the most remarkable of the seven 
deacons, me7t of good reputatio?i, full of the Holy 
Ghost and wisdom, who had been chosen by the 
multitude, and had been ordained by the apostles 
through prayers and the imposition of hands, that 
they might distribute alms to the poor, preach 
the word of God, and in some instances carry and 
distribute the Holy Eucharist. (Acts v.) 

After the martyrdom of St. Stephen, which was 
left unpunished, the Hellenists and Jews of Jeru- 
salem, unable to answer the arguments of this great 
witness of Christ, and understanding that the new 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 57 

religion was destined to supersede the ordinances 
of the law, '' raised a great persecution against the 
Church which was at Jerusalem, and they \vere all 
dispersed through the countries of Judea and Sa- 
maria except the apostles." Then it was that Paul 
made havoc of the Church, entering in from 
house to house, and dragging away men and women, 
committed them to prison. 

" They, therefore, that were dispersed went about 
preaching the word of God; and Philip (a deacon 
like St. Stephen) went down to the city of Samaria 
and preached Christ unto them ; and the people 
with one accord were attentive to those things that 
were said by Philip, hearing and seeing the mir- 
acles that he did. . . . There was therefore great 
joy in that city." (Acts viii.) 

" Now when the apostles who were in Jerusa- 
lem had heard that Samaria had received the word 
of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, 
when they were come, prayed for them that they 
might receive the Holy Ghost ; for He was not as 
yet come upon any of them, but they were only 
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

" Then they laid their hands upon them, and they 
received the Holy Ghost. And they, indeed, hav- 
ing testified and spoken the word of the Lord, re- 
turned to Jerusalem, and preached the Gospel to 
many countries of the Samaritans. 

" Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, say- 
ing: i\rise, go towards the south, to the way that 
goeth down from Jerusalem into Gaza; this is desert. 
And he rose up and went. And behold a man of 
Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under 



58 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL THROUGH 

Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had 
charge over all her treasures, had come to Jerusa- 
lem to adore, and he was returning- sitting in his 
chariot, and reading Isaias the prophet. And the 
spirit said to Philip: Go near and join th)^self to 
this chariot. And Phihp, running thither, heard 
him reading the prophet Isaias, and he said: Think- 
est thou that thou understandest what thou read- 
est? And he said : And how can I, unless some 
man show me? And he desired Philip that he 
would come up and sit with him. And the place of 
the Scripture he was reading was this: He was 
led as a sheep to the slaughter ; and like a lamb , with- 
out a voice, before his shearer^ He opened not His 
vioutJi. hi humility His judgme?it was takefi away. 
His generation who shall declare ? for His life shall 
be take7i from earth. (Is. liii. 7.) And the eunuch 
answered Philip, and said: I beseech thee, of whom 
doth the prophet speak this, of himself or of some 
other man ? 

" Then Philip, opening his mouth and beginning 
at this Scripture, preached unto him Jesus. And 
as they went on their way they came to a certain 
water, and the eunuch said : See, here is water; 
what doth hinder me from being baptized ? And 
Phihp said: If thou believe with all thy heart, 
thou mayest. And he answering, said: I believe 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he 
c;)mmanded the chariot to stand still, and they 
went down into the water, both Phihp and the 
eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they 
were come up out of the water, the spirit of the 
Lord took away Philip, and the eunuch saw him 



THE PREACHING OF CHOSEN MINISTERS. 59 

no more. But Philip was found in Azotus, and 
passing through, he preached the Gospel in all the 
cities till he came to Cesarea." 

II. — ST. PAUL AGAIN. 

This is the place to speak more at length of the 
great apostle St. Paul, and first of all of his conver- 
sion and life till he was sent to preach to the Gen- 
tiles by the church of Antioch. 

''And Saul, as yet breathing out threatenings and 
slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went 
to the high-priest, and asked of him letters to Da- 
mascus, to the synagogues ; that if he found any men 
and women of this way, he might bring them bound 
to Jerusalem. 

''And as he went on his journey, it came to pass 
that he drew nigh to Damascus ; and suddenly a 
light from heaven shined round about him. And 
he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying 
to him : Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ? 
And he said, Who art Thou, Lord ? And He said, 
I am Jesus, Whom thou persecutest. It is hard for 
thee to kick against the goad. And he, trembling 
and astonished, said : Lord, what wilt Thou have 
me to do ? And the Lord said to him : Arise, and 
go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what 
thou must do. Now the men that went in company 
with him stood amazed, hearing indeed a voice, but 
seeing no man. And Saul arose from the ground, 
and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. 
But they led him by the hands, and brought him 
to Damascus ; and he was there three days with- 
out sight, and he did neither eat nor drink. 



6o PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL THROUGH 

" Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus 
named Ananias ; and the Lord said to him in a 
vision : Ananias. And he said: Behold I am here. 
Lord. And the Lord said to him : Arise, and go 
into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the 
house of Judas one named Saul of Tarsus. For be- 
hold he prayeth. (And he saw a man named An- 
anias coming in and putting his hands upon him, 
that he might receive his sight.) 

*' But Ananias answered : Lord, I have heard by 
many of this man, how much evil he hath done to 
Thy saints at Jerusalem ; and here he hath author- 
ity from the chief priests to bind all that call upon 
Thy name. 

" And the Lord said to him : Go thy way, for 
this man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My 
name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the chil- 
dren of Israel ; for I will show him how great 
things he must suffer for My name's sake. 

" And Ananias went his way, and entered into 
the house ; and laying his hands upon him, he said: 
Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me. He that 
appeared to thee in the way as thou camest, that 
thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with 
the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from 
his eyes, as it were, scales, and he received his 
sight, and arose and was baptized. And when 
he had taken meat, he was strengthened. And he 
was with the disciples that were at Damascus for 
some days. And immediately he preached Jesus 
in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. And 
all that heard him were astonished, and said : Is 
not this he who persecuted in Jerusalem those 



i 



I 



THE PREACHING OF CHOSEN MINISTERS. 6l 

who called on this name, and came hither for 
this purpose, that he might bring- them bound 
to the chief priests ? But Saul increased much 
more in strength, and confounded the Jews that 
dwelt in Damascus, affirming that this is the 
Christ." (Acts ix. 1-22.) 

Shortly alter his conversion Paul retired into 
Arabia, and then returned to Damascus, where iie 
preached for three years, '' confounding the Jews 
who were there, and affirming tliat this is the 
Christ." 

in. — ANTIOCH. 

Antioch, at one time the capital of the kings of 
Syria, and in the days of Our Lord the seat of the 
Roman governor of that province, was an im- 
mense city of no less than 500,000 inhabitants. It 
was built on the river Orontes, communicating 
with the East by innumerable roads, and with all 
the countries of the West by Seleucia, its magnifi- 
cent port. Antioch was celebrated less perhaps 
by its site, its climate, its magnificent buildings, 
than by the licentiousness of its people. 

There were at Antioch, as in other cities around 
the Mediterranean Sea, or in the valley of the Eu- 
phrates, a great many Jews of the dispersion who 
in the midst of the general corruption were faith- 
ful in observing the moral and ceremonial laws of 
their rehgion. Some of these children of Israel had 
attained to wealth, and as colonies they enjoyed 
all the privileges granted by the emperors to 
the most favored cities. The Jews of Antioch 
had their synagogues, were permitted to be gov- 



62 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL THROUGH 

erned and were judged by special, officers of 
their nation; but as they were living far from 
Jerusalem, and among pagans, their manners had 
been much influenced by those of the people of 
Antioch, so that many were not strict observers of 
the circumcision, of ablutions and fasts so strictly 
adhered to by the Jews of Jerusalem, even since the 
promulgation of the Gospel on the day of Pentecost. 

" Now they who had been dispersed by the per- 
secution that arose on occasion of Stephen, went 
about as far as Phenice and Cyprus and Antioch, 
speaking the word to none but to the Jews only. 
But some of them were men of Cyprus and Cy- 
rene, who when they were entered into Antioch, 
spoke also to the Greeks, preaching the Lord 
Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with 
them ; and a great number believing were con- 
verted to the Lord. 

" And the tidings came to the ears of the 
church that was at Jerusalem, touching these 
things : and they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch, 
who, when he was come, and had seen the grace 
of God, rejoiced ; and he exhorted them all with 
purpose of heart to continue in the Lord. For he 
was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and 
of faith. An^ a great multitude was added to the 
Lord. 

" And Barnabas went to Tarsus to seek Saul, 
and when he had found him he brought him to 
Antioch. And they conversed there a whole year ; 
and they taught a great multitude, so that at An- 
tioch the disciples were first named Christians.'* 
(Acts xi. 19-26.) 



THE PREACHING OF CHOSEN MINISTERS. 6;^ 

Let the reader notice that the disciples who had 
fled from Jerusalem on account of the persecu- 
tion were not bishops, but simply priests of the 
Saviour, filled with His spirit ; but when the tid- 
ings came to the ears of the church that was at 
Jerusalem, that is, to the apostles, they sent Bar- 
nabas as far as Antioch. 

We see from this account that the Christians of 
Antioch received their doctrine and direction from 
the mother church in Jerusalem. Not only did 
they profess the same doctrine, but there was be- 
tween them a communion of charity, as the 
writer of the Acts informs us in the following 
passage : 

" And in these days, prophets came from Jeru- 
salem to Antioch. And one of them named 
Agabus stood up and signified by the Spirit that 
there should be a great famine over the whole 
world, which came to pass under Claudius. And 
the discipleSy every man according to his ability^ deter- 
mined to send relief to the brethren who dwelt in 
Judea. Which also they did, sending it to the ancients^ 
by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.'' (Acts xi. 
27-30.) 

Later on we shall see that St. Peter, the head of 
the Church, established his see at Antioch as bish- 
op of that city about this time, so that it is probable 
that he was one of those mentioned in the next 
section as having laid their hands upon Paul and 
Barnabas. 

" Now there were in the church which was at 
Antioch prophets and doctors, among whom was 
Barnabas, and Simon who was called Niger, and 



64 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL THROUGH 

Lucius of Cyrene, and Manahen who was the fos- 
ter-brother of Herod, the tetrarch, and Saul. And 
as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, 
the Holy Spirit said to them : Set apart for Me 
Saul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have 
called them. And when they had fasted and 
prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent 
them away." (Acts xiii. 1-3.) 

Barnabas, mentioned in the above passage, had 
been one of the seventy-two disciples of Our Lord, 
and was ordained deacon by the apostles. He was 
a Cyprian by birth — a man of great wealth, which 
he had voluntarily sacrificed for the relief of the 
poor. He was therefore well-known by the apos- 
tles, who had sent him to Antioch. Paul also was 
well-known by them, and had the approval of Pe- 
ter for his labors in announcing Jesus Christ, but 
neither Barnabas nor Paul had hitherto received 
the episcopal character. St. Paul had not founded 
the church of Antioch, he never wrote to the disci- 
ples of the city, nor in fact had he founded any 
church or written any epistle before this time. 
St. Paul, however, made Antioch his headquarters, 
whence he started for his apostolic work among 
those of Asia-Minor and Greece, frequently return- 
ing to and preaching the word of God in the great 
city on the Orontes. 

IV. — ST. PAUL AND BARNABAS AT CYPRUS, PERGE, 

ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA, ICONIUM, LYSTRA, DERBE, 

AND BACK TO ANTIOCH. 

So Paul and Barnabas, " being sent by the Holy 
Ghost, went to Seleucia ; and from thence they 



THE PREACHING OF CHOSEN MINISTERS. 65 

sailed to C}- prus. And when they were come to 
Salamina, tkey preached the word of God in the 
synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also 
in their ministry. And when they had gone 
through the whole island as far as Paphos, they 
found a certain man, a magician, a false prophet, 
a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesu, who w^as with 
the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a prudent man. He, 
sending for Barnabas and Saul, desired to hear the 
word of God. But Elymas the magician (for so his 
name is interpreted) withstood them, seeking to 
turn away the proconsul from the faith. 

" Then Saul, who is also Paul, filled with the Holy 
Ghost, looking upon him, said.: O full of all guile, 
and of all deceit, child of the devil, enemy of all 
justice, thou ceasest not to pervert the right ways 
of the Lord. And now behold the hand of the 
Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not see- 
ing the sun for a time. And immediately there 
fell a mist and a darkness upon him, and going 
about, he sought some one to lead him by the hand. 
Then the proconsul, when he had seen what was 
done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of 
the Lord. 

" Now when Paul and they that were with him 
had sailed from Paphos, they came to Perge in 
Pamphilia. And John departing from them re- 
turned to Jerusalem. 

'' But they passing through Perge came to An-- 
tioch in Pisidia : and entering into the synagogue 
on the sabbath-day, they satdow^n. And after the 
reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of 
the synagogue sent to them, saying : Ye men breth- 



66 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL THROUGH 

ren, if you have any word of exhortation to make 
to the people, speak. 

" Then Paul rising up, and with his hand be- 
speaking silence, said: Ye men of Israel, and ye 
that fear God, give ear. The God of the people 
of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people 
when they were sojourners in the land of Egypt, 
and with a high arm brought them out from thence. 
And for the space of forty years endured their 
manners in the desert. And destroying seven na- 
tions in the land of Chanaan, divided their land 
among them by lot, as it were, after four hundred 
and fifty years. And after these things, He gave 
judges, until Samuel the prophet. And after that 
they desired a king, and God gave them Saul the 
son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, forty 
years. And when He had removed him, He raised 
them up David, to be king : to whom giving testi- 
mony, he said : / /lave found David, the son of Jesse, 
a man according to My own heart, who shall do all My 
wills. (Ps. Ixxxviii. 21 ; i Kings xiii. 14.) Of this 
man's seed God, according to His promise, hath 
raised up to Israel a Saviour, Jesus. John 
preaching before His coming the baptism of pen- 
ance to all the people of Israel. And when John 
was f ulfiUing his course, he said : I am not he whom 
ye think me to be ; but behold there cometh One 
after me. Whose shoes of His feet I am not worthy 
to loose. 

" Men brethren, children of the stock of Abra- 
ham, and whosoever among you fear God, to you 
the word of this salvation is sent. For they that 
inhabited Jerusalem, and the rulers thereof, not 



THE PREACHING OF CHOSEN MINISTERS. 67 

knowing Him, nor the voices of the prophets, which 
are read every sabbath, judging Him, have fulfilled 
them. And finding no cause of death in Him, they 
desired of Pilate that they might kill Him. And 
when they had fulfilled all things that were writ- 
ten of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and 
laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him up 
from the dead the third day. And He was seen 
for many days b}^ them who came up with Him 
from Galilee to Jerusalem, who to this present 
time are His witnesses to the people. And we de- 
clare unto you that that promise which was made 
to our fathers, God hath fulfilled the same to our 
children, raising up Jesus, as in the second psalm 
also is written : TJioii art My Son, this day have I be- 
gotten Thcc. (Ps.ii. 7.) And to show that He raised 
Him up from the dead, not to return now any 
more to corruption, He said thus: / will give you 
the holy tilings of David faithful. (Is. Iv. 3) And 
therefore in another place also He saith : Thou shalt 
notsuffi r Thy Holy One to see corruption. (Ps. xv. lO.) 
For David, when he had served in his generation, 
according to the will of God, slept, and was laid 
unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But He 
Whom God hath raised from the dead saw no 
corruption. 

" Be it known therefore to you, men brethren, 
that through Him forgiveness of sins \s> preached to 
you : and from all the things, from which ye could 
not be justifi( d by the law^ of Moses. In Him every 
one that believeth is justified. Beware, therefore, 
lest that come upon you which is spoken in the 
prophets : Behold, ye despisers , and wonder and per- 



68 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL THROUGH 

isJi ; for I Ivor k a work in your days, a work which 
ye ivill not believe if any 7nan shall tell it yon. (Hab. 

i-5.) 

"And as they went out, they desired them that 
on the next sabbath they would speak unto them 
these words. And when the synagogue was bro- 
ken up, many of the Jews, and of the strangers 
that served God, followed Paul and Barnabas, who 
speaking to ihem, persuaded them to continue in 
the grace of God. 

** But the next sabbath-day almost the whole 
city came together to hear the word of God. And 
the Jews seeing the multitudes, were filled with en- 
vy, and contradicted those things which were said 
by Paul, blaspheming. 

" Then Paul and Barnabas said boldl}^ : To you 
it behoved us first to speak the word of God, but 
since ye reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy 
of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles. 
For so the Lord hath commanded us : / have set 
thee to be the light of the Gentiles ; that thon may est be 
for salvation unto the uttnost part of the earth. (Is, 
xlix. 6.) 

" And the Gendles hearing it were glad, and 
glorified the word of the Lord ; and as many as 
were ordained to life everlasting believed. A?id 
the word of the Lord was published throughout the whole 
country. 

" But the Jews stirred up religious and honor- 
able women, and the chief men of the city, and 
raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and 
cast them out of their coasts. But they shook of! 
the dust of their feet against them, and came to 



THE PREACHING OF CHOSEN MINISTERS. 69 

Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy 
and with the Holy Ghost. 

" And it came to pass in Iconium, that they en- 
tered together into the synagogue of the Jews, 
and so spoke that a vei-y great multitude^ both of the 
Jews and of the Greeks^ believed. 

" But the unbelieving Jews stirred up and in- 
censed the minds of the Gentiles against the breth- 
ren A long time therefore they abode there, act- 
ing boldly in the name of the Lord, Who gave tes- 
timony to the word of His grace, granting signs 
and wonders to be done by their hands. And the 
multitude of the city was divided; and some of 
them indeed held with the Jews, but some with the 
apostles. And when there was an assault made 
by the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to 
use them contumeliously, and to stone them, they, 
understanding it, fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities 
of Lycaonia, and to the whole country round about, 
and were there preaching the Gospel. 

" And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impo- 
tent in his feet, a cripple from his mother's womb, 
who never had walked. This man heard Paul 
speaking ; who looking upon him, and seeing that 
he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice: 
Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped up and 
walked. 

*' And when the multitude had seen what Paul 
had done, they lifted up their voice in the Lycaoni- 
an tongue, saying: The gods are come down to us 
in the likeness of men ; and they called Barnabas, 
Jupiter ; but Paul, Mercury, because he was chief 
speaker. The priest also of Jupiter that was be- 



70 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL THROUGH 

fore the city, bringing oxen and garlands before the 
gate, would have offered sacrifice with the people. 
And when the apostles Barnabas and Paul had 
heard of it, they rent their clothes, and leaped out 
among the people crying, and saying: Ye men, 
why do 3^e these things? We also are mortals, 
men like unto y ow, preadiing to you to be converted 
from these vain things to the living God, Who 
made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and 
all things that are in them ; Who in generations 
past suffered all nations to walk in their ownw^a3's. 
Nevertheless He left not Himself without testi- 
mony, in doing good from heaven, giving rains and 
fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and 
gladness. 

"And speaking these things they scarce restrained 
the people from sacrificing to them. 

** Now there came certain Jews from Antioch 
and Iconium ; and having persuaded the multitude, 
and stoning Paul, they drew him out of the city, 
thinking him to be dead. But as the disciples 
stood round about him, he rose up and entered 
into the city, and the next day he departed with 
Barnabas to Derbe. 

^' And wJie7i they had preached the Gospel to that city, 
and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, 
and to Iconium, and to Antioch, confirming the 
souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to con- 
tinue in the faith, and that through many tribula- 
tions we must enter into the kingdom of God. 

" And when they had ordained to them priests in 
every church, and had prayed with fasting, they 
commended them to the Lord, in Whom they be- 



THE PREACHING OF CHOSEN MINISTERS. 71 

lieved. And passing through Pisidia they came 
into Pamphylia, and having spoken the word of the 
Lord in Perge, they went down into Attalia ; and 
thence they sailed to Antioch, from whence they 
had been delivered to the grace of God, unto the 
work which they accomplished. And when they 
were come, and had assembled the Church, they re- 
lated what great things God had done with them, 
and how He had opened the door of faith to the 
Gentiles. And they abode no small time with the 
disciples^ (Acts xiii., xiv.) 

We desire you, dear reader, to pause here a 
while. We have been reading from the Acts of 
the Apostles a partial account of the success of SS. 
Paul and Barnabas in spreading the Gospel and 
gaining souls to Jesus Christ. Their success was 
very great indeed, for in Antioch of Pisidia 
^'■many of the Jews, and of the strangers that served 
God, followed Paul and Barnabas, zvho speaking to 
theni,pe7suad(d them to continue in the grace of God.'' 

At Iconium Paul and Barnabas entered together 
into the synagogue of the Jews, '' and so spoke that a 
very great multitude^ both of the Jews and of the 
Greeks, believed.'' 

At Derbe '' they preached the Gospel to that city, 
and taught many!' 

Among those converts there were no dissensions; 
there were no doubts concerning doctrine. The 
faith was one. And they were exhorted to con- 
tinue in the faith. 

At what time did the two apostles labor for the 
cause of Jesus Christ ? About the years 44 or 45, 
that is, at a time when no books of the New Tes- 



72 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

tament, not even probably St. MattheAv*s Gospel, 
were written; but these men of God had been or- 
dained by the imposition of the hands of the 
prophets and teachers at Antioch ; they had been 
sent by them, and now after they have gained 
many disciples to Jesus Christ, they ordained priests 
for them in every city, so that the word of God 
might continue to be preached in its purity by 
ministers duly qualified and authorized. 



Chapter V. 

PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL, CONTINUED. 
I. — PHILIPPI. 

tT has not pleased Divine Providence to have the 
labors of the greater part of the apostles 
recorded in the New Testament. St. Mat- 
thew and St. John, though elected apostles by 
Jesus Christ, say nothing of their own labors; 
neither does St. Mark, though he was the compan- 
ion of St. Paul, and, later on, secretary to St. Peter, 
and Bishop of Alexandria. The traditions or 
historical accounts we have from other sources 
concerning the rest of the apostles are very in- 
complete indeed. Of St. Paul and St. Peter, how- 
ever, our great sacred historian St. Luke, in his 
Acts of the Apostles, gives a long if not a detailed 
and complete history. We intend later on in this 
work to speak at length of the doings of St. Peter; 
but we will now continue to follow our historian 
in relating the labors of St. Paul, 

Immediately before starting for their second 
missionary journey towards the North, Paul and 
Barnabas had been sent from Antioch to Jerusa- 
lem to consult the apostles and priests of that 
city concerning the controversy that had arisen 
respecting the Gentile converts. The question 

T3 



74 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

was decided in Jerusalem, and the two delegates 
returned to Antioch, " and gathering together the 
multitude^ delivered the epistle ^ 

"And Paul and Barnabas continued at Antioch, 
teaching and preaching, with many others, the 
word of the Lord. 

" And after some days Paul said to Barnabas : 
Let us return and visit our brethren in all the 
cities wherein we have preached the word of the 
Lord, to see how they do. And Barnabas would 
have taken with them John also, that was surnamed 
Mark: but Paul desired that he (as having de- 
parted from them out of Pamphylia, and not gone 
with them to the work) might not be received. 
And there arose a dissension, so that they de- 
parted one from another, and Barnabas indeed, 
taking Mark, sailed to Cyprus. 

" But Paul, having chosen Silas, departed, being 
deliver, d by the brethren to the grace of God. 
And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirm- 
ing the churches ; commanding them to keep the pre- 
cepts of the apostles and elders. 

"And he came to Derbe and Lystra. And be- 
hold there was a certain discipl'e there named Tim- 
othy, the son of a Jewish woman that believed, 
but his father was a Gentile. To this man the 
brethren that were in Lystra and Iconium gave a 
good testimo^3^ Him Paul would have to go 
along with him ; and taking him he circumcised 
him, because of the Jews that were in those places, 
for they all knew that his father was a Gentile. 

" And as the}^ passed through the cities, they 
delivered unto them the decrees for to keep, that 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 75 

were decreed by the apostles and elders that were at 
Jerusalem. And the churches were confirmed in 
faith, and increased in number daily. 

** And when they had passed through Phrygia 
and the country of Galatia, they were forbidden 
by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. 
And when they were come into Mysia, they at- 
tempted to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of 
Jesus suffered them not. And when they had 
passed through Mysia they went down to Troas. 
And a vision was showed to Paul in the night, 
which was a man of Macedonia standing and be- 
seeching him, and saying: Pass over into Mace- 
donia, and help us. And as soon as he had seen 
the vision, immediately we sought to go into Mace- 
donia, being assured that God had called us to 
preach the Gospel to them. And sailing from 
Troas we came with a straight course to Samoth- 
racia, and the day following to Neapolis; and 
from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of 
part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were in 
this city some days conferring together. 

*' And upon the sabbath-day we went forth 
without the gate, by a river side, where it seemed 
that there was prayer ; and sitting down we spoke 
to the women that were assembled. 

"And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of 
purple of the city Thyatira, one that worshipped 
God, did hear, whose heart the Lord opened to 
attend to those things which were said by Paul. 
And when she was baptized, and her household, 
she besought us, saying : If you have judged me 
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and 



76 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

abide there. And she constrained' us. And it 
came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain girl, 
having a pythonical spirit, met us, who brought to 
her masters much gain by divining. This same, 
having followed Paul and us, cried out, saying : 
These men are the servants of the most high God, 
who preach unto you the way of salvation. And 
this she did many days. But Paul, being grieved, 
turned and said to the spirit : I command thee, in 
the name of Jesus Christ, to go out from her. 
And he went out the same hour. 

" But her masters, seeing that the hope of their 
gain was gone, apprehended Paul and Silas, and 
brought them into the market-place to the rulers. 
And presenting them to the magistrates, they said : 
These men, being Jews, disturb our city, and preach 
a fashion which it is not lawful for us to receive, 
nor observe, being Romans. 

" And the people ran together against them ; 
and the magistrates, rending off their clothes, com- 
manded them to be beaten with rods. And when 
they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast 
them into prison, charging the gaoler to keep 
them diligently. And he, having received such a 
charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and 
made their feet fast in the stocks. And at mid- 
night Paul and Silas praying, praised God. And 
they that were in prison heard them. And sud- 
denly there was a great earthquake, so that the 
foundations of the prison were shaken. And im- 
mediately all the doors were opened, and the 
bands of all were loosed. And the keeper of the 
prison, awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 77 

doors of the prison open, drew his sword, and 
would have killed himself, supposing that the 
prisoners had fled. But Paul cried with a 
loud voice, saying: Do thyself no harm, for we 
all are here. Then calling for a light, he went in, 
and trembling fell down at the feet of Paul and 
Silas. And bringing them out, he said : Masters, 
what must I do that I may be saved ? But they 
said : Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be 
saved, and thy house. And they preached the 
word of the Lord to him and to all that were in 
his house. And he took them the same hour of 
the night, and washed their stripes, and himself 
was baptized, and all his house straightway. And 
when he had brought them into his own house, he 
laid the table for them, and rejoiced with all his 
house, believing God. 

"■ And when the day was come, the magistrates 
sent the sergeants, saying : Let those men go. 
And the keeper of the prison told these words to 
Paul : The magistrates have sent to let you go ; 
now therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul 
said to them : They have beaten us publicly, un- 
condemned, men that are Romans, and have cast 
us in prison ; and now do they thrust us out pri- 
vately ? Not so; but let them come and let us out 
themselves. 

" And the sergeants told these words to the 
magistrates. And they were afraid when they 
heard that they were Romans. And they came 
and besought them ; and bringing them out they 
desired them to depart out of the city. And they 
went out of the prison, and entered into the house 



78 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

of Lydia ; and having seen the brethren, they com- 
forted them and departed." (Acts xv., xvi.) 

Fail not to notice, dear reader, in the preceding 
passage regarding the mission of St. Paul at Phil- 
ippi, that there existed perfect charity and com- 
munity of faith between the Apostle and those 
who were called the disciples, the brethren, the 
church. 

'^ Paul went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming 
the churches, commanding them to keep the precepts of 
the apostles and elders. 

"■ And as they passed through the cities, they deliv- 
ered unto them the decrees frr to keep, that were de- 
creed by the apostles and elders that were at Jerusa- 
lem. And the churches were confirmed in fait Ji, and 
increased in number daily!' 

Ten years after founding the church at Philippi, 
St. Paul was a prisoner at Rome. The faithful of 
Philippi cherished at all times a tender affection 
for him, and cheerfully contributed to his wants 
at Rome, whither they sent their offerings by the 
hands of Epaphroditus, who was probably their 
bishop. Paul showed his tender regard for them 
by accepting their contributions, which he also 
gratefully acknowledged by writing to them a let- 
ter wherein he praises their piety and zeal. This 
letter of St. Paul to the Philippians, which is found 
in the New Testament, is acknowledged by all to 
be his work, and by Christians, to have been in- 
spired by the Holy Ghost. 

It begins with the words : *' Paul and Timothy, 
servants of Jesus Christ; to all the saints in Christ 
Jesus, who are at Philippi, with bishops and deacons. 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 79 

Grace be to you and peace from God, our Father, 
and the Lord Jesus Christ." 

The letter of the great Apostle to his dear Phil- 
ippians ends as follows : " Salute ye every samt in 
Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me salute 
you ; all the saints salute you, especially those who 
are of the household of C^sar. The grace of Our 
Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." 

The city of Philippi in Macedonia was far dis- 
tant from Jerusalem. In this latter city the dis- 
ciples of Jesus Christ were so remarkable for their 
charity after the day of Pentecost, that the heathens 
exclaimed : " See how they love one another, '' but the 
same spirit prevailed in Philippi also, because they 
had been taught by duly ordained and commissioned 
preachers of the Gospel. 

II. — THESSALONICA AND BEREA. 

"After they had passed through Amphipolisand 
ApoUonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there 
was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul accord- 
ing to his custom went in unto them ; and for three 
sabbath-days he reasoned with them out of the 
Scriptures, laying open and showing that the Christ 
was to suffer, and to rise again from the dead ; 
and that this is Jesus Christ, whom I preach to 
you. And some of them believed, and were asso- 
ciated to Paul and Silas, and of those that served 
God, and of the Gentiles a great multitude, and 
of noble women not a few. 

" But the Jews, moved with envy, and taking un- 
to them some wicked men of the vulgar sort, and 
making a tumult, set the city in an uproar ; and 



8o PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

besetting Jason's house, sought to bring them out 
unto the people. And when they found them not, 
they drew Jason and certain brethren to the rulers 
of the city, crying : They that set the city in an up- 
roar are come hither also, whom Jason hath re- 
ceived, and these all do contrary to the decrees of 
Cassar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. 
And they stirred up the people and the rulers of 
the city, when they heard these things. And hav- 
ing taken satisfaction of Jason, and of the rest, they 
let them go. 

"But the brethren immediately sent away Paul 
and Silas by night unto Berea ; who when they 
were come thither went into the synagogue of the 
Jews. Now these were more noble than those in 
Thessalonica, who received the word with all eager- 
ness, daily searching the Scriptures whether these 
things were so. And many indeed of them be- 
lieved, and of honorable women that were Gen- 
tiles, and men not a few. 

*' And when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowl- 
edge that the word of God was also preached by 
Paul at Berea, they came thither also, stirring up 
and troubling the multitude. And then immedi- 
ately the brethren sent away Paul to go unto the 
sea; but Silas and Timothy remained there. And 
they that conducted Paul brought him as far as 
Athens, and having received a commandment from 
him to Silas and Timothy, that they should come 
to him with all speed, they departed." (Acts xviL 

1-15.) 

Thessalonica, the Salonica of to-day, was a great 
seaport town, the metropolis of all Macedonia, and 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 8l 

the residence of the Roman governor. Jews be- 
ing settled there in great numbers, they had erected 
a synagogue, which was frequented by many Gen- 
tiles, proselytes to their religion. 

The preceding remark will suffice to explain the 
occurrence related concerning it by the wri- 
ter of the Acts. After reaching Corinth, passing 
through Berea and Athens, St. Paul wrote two 
epistles to the disciples of Thessalonica. In order 
of time they are the first which he wrote. 

The reader has undoubtedly noticed in the pre- 
ceding account the great efficacy of the preach- 
ing of St. Paul. " And some of them believed, 
and were associated to Paul and Silas, and of those 
that served God, and of the Gentiles a great multitude^ 
and of noble women not a few^ 

III. — ATHENS. 

Athens, the chief city of Attica, in Greece, was 
situated on the Saronic gulf, about five miles from 
the coast. Athens was the very flower of ancient 
civilization: its schools of philosophy were the most 
illustrious in the world, and its painters, sculptors, 
and architects have never been surpassed. The 
Areopagus {hill of Mars) was the seat of the ancient 
and venerable supreme court of Athens. So great 
was the idolatry of the Athenians that there was no 
place, according to Pausanias, where so many idols 
were to be seen. After reading the following dis- 
course of St. Paul to the Athenians, and the success 
of his preaching, the reader will rightly conclude 
that God it was Who guided and inspired him. 

*' Now whilst Paul waited for them at Athens, his 



82 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

spirit was stirred within him, seeing the city wholly 
given to idolatry. He disputed, therefore, in the 
synagogue with the Jews, and with them that served 
God, and in the market-place every day, with them 
that were there. 

" And certain philosophers of the Epicureans and 
of the Stoics disputed with him; and some said: 
What is it that this word-sower would say? But 
others : He seemeth to be a setter forth of new gods, 
because he preached to them Jesus and the resur- 
rection. And taking him, they brought him to 
Areopagus, saying : May we know what this new 
doctrine is which thou speakest of? For thou 
bringest certain new things to our ears. We would 
know therefore what these things mean. (Now all 
the Athenians, and strangers that were there, em- 
ployed themselves in nothing else but either in tell- 
ing or in hearing some new thing.) 

" But Paul, standing in the midst of Areopagus, 
said: Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things 
ye are too superstitious. For passing by and see- 
ing your idols, I found an altar also, on which was 
written, TO THE UNKNOWjsr god. What therefore 
ye worship without knowing it, that I preach to 

)'OU. 

" God, Who made the world, and all things there- 
in. He being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth 
notin templesmade with hands, neitheris He served 
with men's hands, as though He needed anything, 
seeing it is He that giveth to all life, and breath, 
and all things, and hath made of one all mankind 
to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, deter- 
mining appointed tinxes, and the limit of their hab- 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 83 

itation, that they may seek God, if happily they may 
feel after Him, or find Him, although He be not 
far from every one of us. For in Him we live, 
and move, and are ; as cei'tain also of your own poets 
have said : For we are also His offspring. Being 
therefore the offspring of God, we must not suppose 
the divinity to be like unto gold, or silver, or stone, 
the graving of art, and device of man. And God 
indeed having winked at the times of this ignorance, 
declareth unto men that all should everywhere do 
penance ; because He hath appointed a day wherein 
He will judge the world in equity, by the man 
Whom He hath appointed, giving faith to all, by 
raising Him up from the dead. 

**And when they had heard of the resurrection of 
the dead, some indeed mocked; but others said : We 
will hear thee again concerning this matter. So 
Paul went out from among them. 

"But certain men adhering to him, believed; 
among whom was also Dionysius the Areopagite, 
and a woman named Damaris, and others with 
them." (Acts xvii. 17-34.) 

IV. — CORINTH. 

Corinth was the capital of Achaia on the isthmus 
which separates the Ionian Sea from the Egean. The 
city itself stood a little inland, but it had two ports : 
Lechasum on the west, and Cenchreae on the east. 
Its position gave it great commercial and mihtary 
importance. It became one of the most populous 
and wealthy cities of Greece, but its riches produced 
pride, ostentation, effeminacy, and all the vices gen- 
erally consequent on luxur3^ Corinth was destroy ed 



84 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

bj the Romans, B. C. 146. A century later it was 
restored by Julius Cassar, who planted in it a Ro- 
mancolony, but though it soon regained its ancient 
splendor, it also relapsed into all its former licen- 
tiousness. 

We quote from the Acts the following account of 
the labors of St. Paul at Corinth, intending to give 
more information on this subject by referring to the 
two letters written by the great Apostle to the 
Corinthians. 

** After these things, departing from Athens, he 
came to Corinth. And finding a certain Jew named 
Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with 
Priscilla his wife (because that Claudius had com- 
manded all Jews to depart from Rome), he came to 
them. And because he was of the same trade, he re- 
mained with them and wrought (now they were tent- 
makers by trade). And he disputed in the synagogue 
every sabbath, bringing in the name of the Lord 
Jesus; and he persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 

"And when Silas and Timothy were come from 
Macedonia, Paul was earnest in preaching, testify- 
ing to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when 
they contradicted and blasphemed, shaking his gar- 
ments, he said to them : Your blood be upon your 
own heads ; I am clean ; from henceforth I will go 
unto the Gentiles. And departing thence, he en- 
tered into the house of a certain man named Titus 
Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house 
adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the ruler 
of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his 
house ; and many of the Corinthians hearing, be- 
lieved, and were baptized. 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 85 

'' And the Lord said to Paul in the night, by a 
vision : Do not fear, but speak, and hold not thy 
peace ; because 1 am with thee, and no man shall 
set upon thee to hurt thee, for 1 have much people 
in this city. And he stayed there a year and six 
months, teaching among them the word of God. 

" But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the 
Jews with one accord rose up against Paul, and 
brought him to the judgment-seat, saj^ing : This 
man persuadeth men to worship God contrary to 
the law. 

" And when Paul was beginning to open his 
mouth, GaUio said to the Jews : If it were some 
matter of injustice or a heinous deed, O Jews! I 
should with reason bear with you. But if they be 
questions of word, and names, and of your law, 
look ye to it ; 1 will not be judge of such things." 
And he drove them from the judgment-seat. 

" But all laying hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of 
the synagogue, beat him before the judgment- 
seat ; and Gallio cared for none of those things." 
(Acts xviii. I- 1 7.) 

Notice, dear reader, how almighty God blessed 
the labors of St. Paul at Corinth and everywhere 
else. " And Crispus the ruler of the synagogue be- 
lieved in the Lord with all his house; and many 
of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were bap- 
tized. And the Lord said to Paul in the night, by 
a vision : Do not fear, but speak, and hold not thy 
peace ; because I am with thee, and no man shall 
set upon thee to hurt thee, for I have much people 
in this city." 

Paul preached at Corinth for one year and six 



86 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

months. A few years later, Stephanus/Fortunatus, 
and Achaius, from the same city, came to him to 
Ephesus to report the state of the church, and obtain 
instructions from him on various matters of impor- 
tance. They were made the bearers of St. Paul's 
first Epistle to the Corinthians. The second Epis- 
tle to the same was written shortly after the first ; 
but both these letters of our great Apostle were 
not intended by St. Paul for all Christians, but 
simply for the disciples in Corinth. They were 
written about the 3^ear 56. When properly under- 
stood, however, they contain admirable instruc- 
tions most useful to all. 

St. Paul was conscious of the sacred character 
and holy mission he had received from God, and 
hence he spoke as one having authorit}^ 

"Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, by 
the will of God : to the Church of God which is at 
Corinth." 

" Let a man so regard us as ministers of Christ, 
and stewards of the mysteries of God." 

Whoever will read the two Epistles to the Corinth- 
ians in connection with the history of St. Paul's 
labors will be delighted to see how the Christians 
of his day were united in the bonds of peace and 
charity, notwithstanding the distance which sep- 
arated the different churches. As an instance of 
this union and charity we see Paul recommending 
and preparing the collecting of contributions to 
be sent to the poor in Jerusalem. 

V.^EPHESUS. 
** But Paul, when he had stayed yet many days 
[at Corinth], taking his leave of the brethren, sailed 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 87 

into Syria (and with him Priscilla and Aquila), hav- 
ing shorn his head in Cenchra, for he had a vow. 

" And he came to Ephesus, and left them there. 
But he himself, entering into the synagogue, dis- 
puted with the Jews. And when they desired 
him, that he would tarry a longer time, he con- 
sented not ; but taking his leave, and saying, I will 
return to you again, God willing, he departed from 
Ephesus. 

"And going down to Cesarea, he went up to Jeru- 
salem and saluted the church, and came down to 
Antioch." (Acts xviii. 19-22.) 

Ephesus, the capital of Ionia, was situated near the 
mouth of the river Caystrus, about forty miles south- 
east of Smyrna. It was celebrated for the worship 
and the temple of Diana, which last was one of the 
seven wonders of the world. The Ephesian letters, 
or amulets, are often mentioned by classical writ- 
ers, as well as the magical arts, to which St. Luke 
also refers. Books of magic to the value of thirty 
thousand dollars were burned by penitents. The site 
of that great and populous city, the greatest place 
of trade of all the cities of Asia west of the Taurus, 
is now desolate. The outlines of the immense 
theatre mentioned in Acts xix., six hundred and 
sixty feet in diameter, yet remain in the solid rock, 
and a few remains of the temple of Diana have 
been unearthed. 

" And after he had spent some time there, he de- 
parted, and went through in order the country of 
Galatia and Phrygia, confirming all the disciples. 

" Now a certain Jew named Apollo, born at 
Alexandria, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus, 



88 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

one mighty in the scriptures. This nian was in- 
structed in the way of the Lord ; and being fervent 
in spirit, spake and taught diligently the things 
that are of Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John. 
This man, therefore, began to speak boldly in the 
synagogue. Whom, when Priscilla and Aquila 
had heard, they took him to them, and expounded 
to him the way of the Lord more diligently. And 
whereas he was desirous to go to Achaia, the 
brethren exhorting, wrote to the disciples to re- 
ceive him. And when he was come, he helped 
them much that had believed. For he vehemently 
refuted the Jews pubhcly, showing by the scriptures 
that Jesus is the Christ. 

"And it came to pass that while Apollo was at 
Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the up- 
per coasts, came to Ephesus, and found certain disci- 
ples. And he said to them : Have ye received 
the Holy Ghost since ye believed? But they said 
to him : We have not so much as heard whether 
there be a Holy Ghost. And he said : In what, 
then, were you baptized ? And they said : In 
John's baptism. Then Paul said : John baptized 
the people with the baptism of penance, saying, 
That they should believe in Him Who was to come 
after him, that is, in Jesus. Having heard these 
things, they were baptize'd in the name of the Lord 
Jesus. And when Paul had imposed his hands on 
them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they 
spake with tongues and prophesied. And all the 
men were about twelve. 

" And entering into the synagogue, he spake 
boldly tor the space of three months, disputing and 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 89 

exhorting concerning the kingdom of God. But 
when some were hardened and beheved not, speak- 
ing evil of the way of the Lord before the multi- 
tude, he departed from them, and separated the 
disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Ty- 
rannus. And this continued for the space of two 
years, so that all they that dwelt in Asia heard 
the word of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles. 

" And God wrought by the hand of Paul more 
than common miracles ; so that even handkerchiefs 
and aprons were brought from his body to the 
sick, and the diseases departed from them, and 
the wicked spirits went out of them. 

" Now some also of the Jewish exorcists that 
went about attempted to invoke over them that 
had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, say- 
ing: I conjure you by Jesus whom Paul preach- 
eth. And there were certain men, seven sons of 
Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, that did this. But the 
wicked spirit answering, said to them: Jesus I 
know, and Paul I know ; but who are ye ? And 
the man in whom the wicked spirit was leaped up- 
on them, and having mastered them both, prevailed 
against them, so that they fled out of that house 
naked and wounded. And this became known to 
all the Jews and the Gentiles that dwelt at Ephe- 
sus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the 
Lord Jesus was magnified. 

" And many of them that believed came confess- 
ing and declaring their deeds. And many of 
them that had followed curious arts brought to- 
gether their books, and burnt them before all ; and 
having counted the price of them, they found the 



90 PROGRESS CF THE GOSPEL. 

money to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. So 
mightily grew the word of God and was confirmed. 

" And when these things were ended, Paul pur- 
posed in the spirit, when he had passed through 
Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying: 
After I have been there 1 must see Rome also. 

" And sending into Macedonia two of them that 
ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he him- 
self'remained for a time in Asia. 

*' Now at that time there arose no small disturb- 
ance about the way of the Lord. For a certain 
man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made 
silver temples for Diana, brought no small gain to 
the craftsmen, whom he calling together with the 
workmen of like occupation, said : Sirs, ye know 
that our gain is by this trade ; and ye see and hear 
that this Paul, by persuasion, hath drawn away a 
great multitude, not only of Ephesus, but almost 
of all Asia, saying : That they that are made by 
hands are not gods ; so that not only this our 
craft is in danger to be set at naught, but also the 
temple of great Diana shall be reputed for nothing, 
yea, and her majesty shall begin to be destroyed, 
whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. Hav- 
ing heard these things, they were full of anger, and 
cried out, saying: Great is Diana of the Ephe- 
sians. And the whole city was filled with confu- 
sion ; and having causfht Gains and Aristarchus, 
men of Macedonia, Paul's companions, they rushed 
with one accord into the theatre. 

*' And when Paul would have entered in unto 
the people, the disciples suffered him not, and 
some also of the rulers of Asia, who were his 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 9I 

friends, sent unto him, desiring that he would not 
venture himself into the theatre. Now some cried 
one thing, some another. For the assembly was 
confused, and the greater part knew not for what 
cause they were come together. And they drew 
forth Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews 
thrusting him forward. And Alexander, beckon- 
ing with his hand for silence, would have given 
the people satisfaction. But as soon as they per- 
ceived him to be a Jew, all with one voice, for the 
space of about two hours, cried out: Great is 
Diana of the Ephesians. 

" And when the town-clerk had appeased the 
multitudes, he said: Ye men of Ephesus, what man 
is there that knoweth not that the city of the 
Ephesians is a worshipper of the great Diana and 
of Jupiter's offspring? Forasmuch therefore as 
these things cannot be gainsaid, ye ought to be 
quiet, and to do nothing rashly. For ye have 
brought hither these men, who are neither guilty 
of sacrilege nor of blasphemy against your god- 
dess. But if Demetrius, and the craftsmen that 
are with him, have a matter against any man, the 
courts of justice are open, and there are the pro- 
consuls ; let them accuse one another. And if ye 
inquire after an}^ other matter, it may be decided 
in a lawful assembly. For we are even in danger 
to be called in question for this day's uproar, there 
being no man guilty (of whom we may give ac- 
count) of this concourse. And when he had said 
these things he dismissed the assembly." (Acts xviii., 
xix.) 

St. Paul well deserves the name of the Apostle 



92 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

of the Gentiles. Of him we read in the preceding 
extract: "All they that dwelt in Asia lieard the 
word of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles. . . . 
So mightily grew the word of God and was con- 
firmed." And Demetrius the silversmith declared: 
" Ye see and hear that this Paul, by persuasion, 
hath drawn away a great multitude, not only of 
Ephesus, but almost of all Asia." 

Let no one imagine, however, that the wonderful 
success of St. Paul was due to his talent or his 
eloquence. God had sent him, and confirmed his 
mission, not only by giving him grace to lead a 
holy life, but by imparting to him power to per- 
form miracles. 

The Apostle himself was anxious to teach his 
hearers that his mission came from God. In his 
Epistle to these converts of Ephesus he calls him- 
self '* an apostie of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, 
to all who are at Ephesus, the saints and faithful in 
Christ Jesus'' 

These disciples of Paul at Ephesus, living so far 
from Jerusalem, and so many years after the ascen- 
sion of Christ, were not a body of Christians dif- 
ferent froQi the converts of Pentecost. For St. 
Paul wrote to the Ephesians : " Now therefore 
you are no more strangers and foreigners, but ye 
are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the house- 
hold of God : built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, the chief corner-stone being 
Christ Jesus Himself." 

He again wrote to the same Ephesians: " I, there- 
fore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk 
worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 93 

With all humilit}^ and meekness, with patience, bear- 
ing with one another in charity. Careful to keep 
the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. One 
body and one spirit, as ye are called in one hope 
of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. 
One God, and Father of all, Who is above all, and 
through all, and in us all. And He gave some 
indeed apostles, and some prophets, and some 
evangelists, and others pastors and teachers. For 
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. 
Until we all meet in the unit}^ of faith, and of the 
knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, 
to the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ. 
That we mav no more be children, tossed to and 
fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by 
the wickedness of men, in craft according to the con- 
trivances of error. " (Ch. iv.) 

VI. — FROM EPHESUS TO TROAS — MILETUS — TYRE 
— CESAREA— JERUSALEM. 

" And after the tumult caused by Demetrius 
ceased, Paul having called the disciples, and hav- 
ing exhorted them, took his leave, and set forward 
to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone 
over those parts, and had exhorted them with 
many words, he came into Greece. 

'* And when he had spent three months there, the 
Jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail into 
Syria, and he resolved to return through Mace- 
donia. And there accompanied him Sopater, the 
son of Pyrrhus of Berea ; and of the Thessaloni- 
ans, Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gains of 



94 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

Derbe, and Timothy ; and of Asia, Tychicus and 
Trophimus. These having gone before, stayed 
for us at Troas. 

" But we sailed from Philippi after the days of 
the azymes, and came to them in five days to 
Troas, where we abode seven days. 

"And on the first day of the week, when we 
were assembled to break bread, Paul discoursed 
with them, being to depart on the morrow, and he 
continued his speech until midnight. And there 
were a great number of lamps in the upper cham- 
ber where we were assembled. And a certain 
young man named Eutychus, sitting on the win- 
dow, being oppressed with a deep sleep, as Paul 
was long preaching, b}^ occasion of his sleep fell 
from the third loft down, and was taken up dead. 
And when Paul had gone down to him, he laid 
himself upon him, and embracing him, said: Be not 
troubled, for his soul is in him. Then he went up, 
and brake bread and tasted, and having talked a 
long time to them, until daylight, so he departed ; 
and the}' brought the youth alive, and were not a 
little comforted. 

" But we went aboard the ship, and sailed to 
Assos, having there to take in Paul ; for so he had 
appointed, being himself about to travel by land. 
And when he had met with us at Assos, we took 
him in and came to INIitylene. And sailing thence, 
the day following we came over against Chios, 
and the next dav we arrived at Samos, and the day 
following we came to Miletus. For Paul had de- 
termined to sail by Ephesus, lest he should be 
stayed any time in Asia. For he hasted, if it were 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 95 

possible for him, to keep the day of Pentecost at 
Jerusalem. 

" And sending from Miletus to Ephesus, he 
called the elders of the Church. And when they 
were come to him, and were together, he said to 
them : Ye know from the first day that T came into 
Asia in what manner I have been with you, all 
the time, serving the Lord with all humility, and 
with lears, and temptations w^hich befell me b}^ 
the conspiracies of the Jews ; how I have kept 
back not/ling that was profitable to you, but have 
preached it to you, and taiigJit you publicly, and 
from house to house, testifying to Jews and Gentiles 
penance towards God and faith in Our Lord Jesus 
Christ, And now, behold, being bound in the 
Spirit, I go to Jerusalem, not knowing the things 
which shall befall me there, save that the Holy 
Ghost in every city witnesseth to me, saying, that 
bands and afflictions await me at Jerusalem. But 
I fear none of these things, neither do I count my 
life more precious than myself, so that I may con- 
summate my course, and the ministry of the word 
th'it I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gos- 
pel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know 
that all ye, among whom I have gone preaching the 
kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 
Wherefore I take you to witness this day, that I 
am clear from the blood of all. For I have not 
spared to declare unto you all the counsel of God, 
Take heed of yourselves, and to the whole flock, 
wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to 
rule the Church of God, which He hath purchased 
with His own blood. I know that after my depart- 



96 PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 

ure ravening wolves will enter in among you, not 
sparing the flock. And of your own selves shall 
arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away 
disciples after them. Therefore watch, keeping in 
memory that for three years I ceased not with 
teaj-s to admonish every one of you night and day. 

"And now I commend you to God and to the 
word of His grace, Who is able to build up, and to 
give an inheritance among all the sanctified. I 
have not coveted any man's silver, gold, or ap- 
parel, as ye yourselves know; for such things as 
were needful for me and them that are with me 
these hands have furnished. I have showed you 
all things, how that so laboring ye ought to sup- 
port the weak, and to remember the word of the 
Lord Jesus, how He said: It is a more blessed 
thing to give rather than to receive. 

" And when he had said these things, he kneeled 
down and prayed with them all. And there was 
much weeping among them all ; and falling on the 
neck of Paul, thev kissed him. Being grieved most 
of all for the word which he had said, that they 
should see his face no more. And they brought 
him on his wa}^ to the ship. 

" And when it came to pass that, being parted 
from them, we set sail, we came with a straight 
course to Coos, and the day following to Rhodes, 
and from thence to Patara. And when we had 
found a ship sailing over to Phenice, we went 
aboard and set forth. And when we had discov- 
ered Cvprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed 
into Syria, and came to Tyre ; for there the ship 
was to unlade her burden. 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 97 

*' And having found disciples, we tarried there 
seven days ; and they said to Paul through the 
Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. 
And the days being expired, we departed and went 
forward, they all bringing us on our way, with* 
their wives and children, till we were out of the 
city : and we kneeled down on the shore, and 
prayed. And when we had bid one another 
farewell, we took ship ; and they returned home. 
But we having finished the voyage by sea from 
Tyre came down to Ptolemais, and having saluted 
the brethren, we abode one day with them. And 
the next day we departed and came to Cesarea. 
And enteringinto the house of Philip the evangelist, 
who was one of the seven, we abode with him. And 
he had four daughters, virgins, who did prophesy. 

** And as we tarried there for some days, there 
came from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. 
And when he was come to us, he took Paul's girdle, 
and binding his own feet and hands, he said: Thus 
saith the Holy Ghost: The man whose girdle this 
is the Jews shall bind in this manner in Jerusalem, 
and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. 
And when we had heard this, we, and those that 
were of that place, besought him not to go up to 
Jerusalem. 

" Then Paul answered and said : What do ye 
weeping, and afflicting my heart ? For I am ready 
not only to be bound, but to die also in Jerusalem, 
for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when we 
could not persuade him, we ceased, saying : The 
will of the Lord be done. And after those days, 
being prepared, we went up to Jerusalem. And 



98 - PROGRESS OF TKE GOSPEL. 

there went also with us some of the disciples from 
Cesarea, bringing with them one Mnason, a Cy- 
prian, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.*' 
(Acts xx.,xxi.) 

Many years had elapsed since the day of Pen- 
tecost to the last voyage of St. Paul from Ephe- 
sus to Macedonia, and thence through Syria to 
Jerusalem. In this latter city he was now to 
sufler great persecutions, which ended by his be- 
ing sent a prisoner to Rome ; but who can tell of 
the immense success of his labors? If the reader 
has followed the journeys of St. Paul on a map of 
the Roman empire, he will remember that the great 
Apostle labored at Damascus, Jerusalem, Tarsus, 
Antioch, Ephesus, Miletus, Troas, and across the 
^gean Sea, at Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Cor- 
inth, and many other places, not counting those 
thatare not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. 
But his labors consisted in preaching as a messen- 
ger of God, and not in explaining books. Wher- 
ever he labored he appointed priests and bishops 
to continue his work, and the most tender charity 
existed between the rulers of the Church and their 
flocks, and between the different churches of the 
one fold of Christ. An instance of this union and 
charity we have in the following passage (i Cor. 
xvi. 1-4.): 

'* Now concerning the collections that are made 
for the saints, as I have given order to the churches 
of Galatia, so do ye also. On the first day of the 
week let every one of you put apart with himself, 
laying up what it shall well please him : that when 
I come, the collections be not then to be made. 



PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. 



99 



And when I shall be with you, whomsoever you 
shall approve by letters, them will I send to carry 
your grace to Jerusalem. And if it be meet that 
I also go, they shall go with me." 



Chapter VI. 

ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. HIS GREAT TRIALS. HE IS SENT 
TO CESAREA. 

f" N the history of our Apostle, which we continue 
from the Acts, we should not fail to remark 
that the church of Jerusalem, with St James, 
its bishop, was in communion with St. Paul and the 
churches of Asia and Greece, that baptism was 
then, as it is now, the entrance-door into the 
Church of Jesus Christ, and that Paul was com- 
manded to give testimon}^ of Jesus Christ in Rome 
as he did in Jerusalem. 

''And when we were come to Jerusalem, the 
brethren received us gladly. And the day follow- 
ing Paul went in with us unto James ; and all the 
elders were assembled. And when he had saluted 
them, he related particularly what things God 
wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. 

" But when they had heard it, they glorified God 
and said to him : Thou seest, brother, how many 
thousands there are among the Jews that have be- 
lieved, and they are all zealous for the law. Now 
they have heard of thee that thou teachest those 
Jews that are among the Gentiles to depart from 
Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise 
their children nor walk according to the custom. 
What is it therefore ? the multitude must needs come 

100 



ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. lOli 

together ; for they will hear that thou art come. 
Do therefore this that we say to thee. We have 
four men that have a vow on them. Take these 
and sanctify thyself with them ; and bestow on 
them that they may shave their heads, and all will 
know that the things which they have heard of 
thee are false, but that thou thyself also walkest 
keeping the law. But as touching the Gentiles 
that believe, we have written, decreeing that they 
should refrain themselves from that which had 
been offered to idols, and from blood, and from 
things strangled, and from fornication. 

'' Then Paul took the men, and the next day, be- 
ing purified with them, entered into the temple, 
giving notice of the accomplishment of the days of 
purification, until an oblation should be offered for 
every one of them. 

" But when the seven days were drawing to an 
end, those Jews that were of Asia, when they had 
seen him in the temple, stirred up all the people, 
and laid hands upon them, crying out : Men of Is- 
rael, help ; this is the man that teacheth all men 
everywhere against the people, and the law, and 
this place, and moreover hath brought in Gentiles 
into the temple, and hath violated that holy place. 
For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the 
city with him, whom they supposed that Paul had 
brought into the temple. 

" And the whole city was in an uproar, and the 
people ran together. And they took Paul, and 
drew him out of the temple ; and immediately the 
doors were shut. And as they were seeking to 
kill him, it was told the tribune of the band, that 



102 ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. 

all Jerusalem is in confusion. And he forthwith, 
having taken with him soldiers and centurions, ran 
down to them. And when they saw the tribune 
and the soldiers, they left off beating Paul. Then 
the tribune coming near took him, and commanded 
him to be bound with two chains, and demanded who 
he was, and what he had done. And some cried 
one thing, some another, among the multitude. 
And when he could not know the certainty for the 
tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the 
castle. And when he was come to the stairs, it 
fell out that he was carried by the soldiers because 
of the violence of the people. For the multitude 
of the people followed after, crying: Away with 
him. 

"And as Paul was about to be brought into the 
castle, he said to the tribune : May I speak some- 
thing to thee? And he said: Canst thou speak 
Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian who before 
these days didst raise a tumult, and didst lead forth 
into the desert four thousand men that were mur- 
derers ? 

"But Paul said to him : I am a Jew of Tarsus in 
Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city. And I beseech 
thee, suffer me to speak to the people. 

"And when he had given him leave, Paul stood 
on the stairs and beckoned with his hand to the peo- 
ple. And agreat silence being made, he spake unto 
them in the Hebrew tongue, saying: Men brethren, 
and fathers, hear 3'e the account which I now give 
unto you. And when they heard that he spake to 
them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more 
silence. And he saith: I am a Jew, born at Tarsus 



ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. IO3 

in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of 
Gamaliel, taught according to the truth of the law of 
the fathers, zealous for the law, as also all ye are this 
day. And I persecuted this way unto death, bind- 
ing and delivering into prisons both men and 
women. As the high-priest doth bear me witness, 
and all the elders ; from whom also receiving 
letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus, that 
I might bring them bound from thence to Jerusa- 
lem to be punished. And it came to pass, as I was 
going, and drawing nigh to Damascus at midday, 
that suddenly from heaven there shone round about 
me a great light. And falling on the ground, I 
heard a voice saying to me : Saul, Saul, why perse- 
cutest thou Me? And I answered: Who art Thou, 
Lord? And He said to me: I am Jesus of Nazareth, 
Whom thou persecutest. And they that were with 
me saw indeed the light, but they heard not the 
voice of Him that spake with me. And I said: 
What shall I do, Lord ? And the Lord said to me : 
Arise, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be 
told thee of all things that thou must do. And 
whereas I did not see for the brightness of ihat 
light, being led by the hand of my companions, 1 
came to Damascus. And one Ananias, a man ac- 
cording to the law, having testimony of all the 
Jews who dwelt there, coming to me and standing 
by me, said to me: Brother Saul, look up. And I 
the same hour looked upon him. But he said : 
The God of our fathers hath preordained thee, 
that thou shouldst know His will, and see the Just 
One, and shouldst hear the voice from His mouth. 
For thou shalt be His witness to all men of those 



I04 ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. 

things that thou hast seen and heard. ' And now 
why tarriest thou ? Rise up, and be baptized, and 
wash away thy sins, having called upon His name. 

" And it came to pass when I was come again to 
Jerusalem, and was praying in the temple, that I was 
in a trance, and saw Him saying unto me : Make 
haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, because 
they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me. 

" And I said : Lord, they know that I cast into 
prison, and beat in every synagogue them that be- 
lieved in Thee. And when the blood of Stephen 
Thy witness was shed, I stood by and consented, 
and kept the garments of them that killed him. 

" And He said to me: Go, for unto the Gentiles 
afar off will I send thee. 

" And they heard him until this word, and then 
lifted up their voice, saying: Away with such a fel- 
low from the earth, for it is not fit that he should 
live. And as they cried out, and threw off their 
garments, and cast dust into the air, the tribune 
commanded him to be brought into the castle, and 
that he should be scourged and tortured, to know 
for what cause they did so cry out against him. 

" And when they had bound him with thongs, 
Paulsaithto the centurion that stood by him: Is it 
lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, 
and uncondemned ? And when the centurion 
heard that, he went to the tribune, and told him, 
saying: What art thou about to do ? for this man 
is a Roman citizen. And the tribune came, and 
said to him: Tell me, art thou a Roman ? And he 
said : Yea. And the tribune answered : With a 
great sum I obtained the freedom of this city. 



ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. I05 

And Paul said : But I was so born. Then straight- 
way they that should have tortured him departed. 
The tribune also was afraid, after he understood 
that he was a Roman citizen, and because he had 
bound him. 

" But on the next day, meaning to know more 
exactly for what cause Paul was accused by the 
Jews, he loosed him, and commanded the priests 
to come together, and all the council, and bringing 
forth Paul, he set him before them. 

** And Paul looking upon the council said : Men 
brethren, I have conversed in all good conscience 
before God until this present day. 

*' And the high-priest Ananias commanded them 
that stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 

" Then Paul said to him: God shall strike thee, 
thou whited wall. For sittest thou to judge me 
according to the law, and contrary to the law 
commandest me to be struck ? And they that stood 
by said : Dost thou revile the high-priest of God ? 
And Paul said : I knew not, brethren, that he is the 
high-priest. For it is written: Thoii shalt not speak 
evil of the prince of thy people. 

" And Paul knowing that the one part were Sad- 
ducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the 
council: Men brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of 
Pharisees : concerning the hope and resurrection 
of the dead I am called in question. 

" And when he had so said, there arose a dissen- 
sion between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and 
the multitude wasdivided. For the Sadducees say 
that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit; 
but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose 



lo6 ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. 

a great cry. And some of the Pharisees rising up 
strove, saying: We find no evil in this man. What 
if a spirit hath spoken to him, or an angel? 

" And when there arose a great dissension, the 
tribune, fearing lest Paul should be pulled in pieces 
by them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and 
to take him by force from among them, and to 
bring him into the castle. 

" And the night following the Lord stood by 
him,andsaid: Beconstant; forasthouhasttestified 
of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also 
at Rome. 

'' And when day was come, some of the Jews 
gathered together, and bound themselves under a 
curse, saying that they would neither eat nor 
drink till they killed Paul. And they were more 
than forty men that had made this conspiracy. 
And they came to the chief priests and the elders, 
and said : We have bound ourselves under a great 
curse that we will taste nothing till we have slain 
Paul. Now therefore do ye with the council sig- 
nify to the tribune that he bring him forth to you, 
as if ye meant to know something more certain 
touching him. And we, before he come near, are 
ready to kill him. 

" And when Paul's sister's son had heard of 
their lying in wait, he came, and entered into the 
castle, and told Paul. And Paul, calling to him 
one of the centurions, said : Bring this young man 
to the tribune, for he hath something to tell him. 
And he indeed taking him, brought him to the 
tribune, and said : Paul the prisoner desired me to 
bring this young man unto thee, for he hath some- 



ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. I07 

thing to say to thee. And the tribune taking him 
by the hand, went aside with him privately, and 
asked him : What is it that thou hast to tell me ? 
And he said : The Jews have agreed to desire thee, 
that thou wouldst bring forth Paul to-morrow into 
the council, as if they meant to inquire something 
more certain touching him. But do not thou give 
credit to them ; for there lie in wait for him more 
than forty men of them, that have bound them- 
selves by oath neither to eat nor to drink till they 
have killed him ; and they are now ready, looking 
for a promise from thee. The tribune therefore 
dismissed the young man, charging him that he 
should tell no man that he had made known these 
things unto him. 

*'Then having called two centurions, he said to 
them : Make ready two hundred soldiers that they 
may go as far as Cesarea, and seventy horsemen, 
and two hundred spearmen, at the third hour of 
the night ; and provide beasts that they may set 
Paul on, and bring him safe to Felix the governor. 
(For he feared lest perhaps the Jews might take 
him away by force and kill him, and he should 
afterwards be slandered, as if he was to take 
money.) 

" And he wrote a letter containing these things : 
Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor 
Felix, greeting. This man being taken by the Jews, 
and about to be killed by them, I rescued coming 
in with an army, having understood that he is a 
Roman : and meaning to know the cause, which 
they objected unto him, I brought him forth into 
their council. Whom I found to be accused concern- 



I08 ST. PAUL AT JERUSALEM. 

ing questions of their law, but having nothing laid 
to his charge worthy of death or of bands. And 
when I was told of ambushes, that they had pre- 
pared for him, I sent him to thee, signifying also 
to his accusers to plead before thee. Farewell. 

" Then the soldiers, according as it was com- 
manded them, took Paul, and brought him by night 
to Antipatris. And the next day having left the 
horsemen to go with him, they returned to the 
castle. Who, when they had come to Cesarea, and 
had delivered the letter to the governor, presented 
Paul also before him. 

** And when he had read it, and had asked of 
what province he was, and understood that he was 
of Cilicia, I will hear thee, said he, when thy 
accusers are come. And he commanded him to be 
kept in Herod's judgment-hall." (Acts xxi. seq.) 



Chapter VII. 

ST. PAUL IN THE HANDS OF THE ROMAN GOVERNOR 
AT CESAREA. DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST HIS AC- 
CUSERS. APPEALS TO Cy^SAR. PLEADS BEFORE 
GOVERNOR FESTUSAND KING AGRIPPA. 

fN this chapter, which continues to relate the 
trials of St. Paul up to the time of his forced 
journey to Rome as a prisoner, the reader will 
find among other speeches of our Apostle his ad- 
mirable discourse in the presence of Festus, the gov- 
ernor. King Agrippa, and Bernice. Let him give 
serious attention to the words of St. Paul, and he 
will learn from him that the means appointed by 
Jesus Christ to teach His doctrine and command- 
ments are nothing more but the preaching of what 
He taught first Himself, by men duly empowered 
to do so. 

"And after five days the high-priest Ananias 
came down, with some of the elders and one Tertul- 
lus an orator, who went to the governor against 
Paul. 

"And Paul being called for, Tertullus began to 
accuse him, saying. Whereas through thee we live 
in much peace, and many things are corrected by 
thy providence ; we accept it always and in all 
places, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness. 
But that I be no further tedious to thee, I desire 

109 



no ST. PAUL IN THE HANDS OF 

thee of thy clemency to hear us a few words. We 
have found this to be a pestilent man, and raising 
seditions among all the Jews throughout the 
whole world, and author of the sedition of the sect 
of the Nazarenes. Who also hath gone about to 
profane the temple ; whom also we apprehended, 
and would have judged according to our law. But 
Lysias the tribune coming upon us, with great 
violence took him away out of our hands, com- 
manding his accusers to come to thee ; of whom 
thou mayest thyself, by examination, have knowl- 
edge of all these things whereof we accuse him. 

"And the Jews also added, and said that these 
things were so. 

" Then Paul answered (the governor making a 
sign to him to speak) : Knowing that for many 
years thou hast been judge over this nation, I will 
with good courage answer for myself. For thou 
mayest understand that there are yet but twelve 
days since I went up to adore in Jerusalem ; and 
neither in the temple did they find me disputing 
with any man or causing any concourse of the 
people, neither in the synagogues nor in the city ; 
neither can they prove unto thee the things where- 
of they now accuse me. But this I confess to thee, 
that according to the sect, which they call heresy, 
so I serve the Father, and my God, believing all 
things which are written in the law and the prophets; 
having hoped in God, which these also themselves 
look for, that there shall be a resurrection of the 
just and unjust. And herein do I endeavor to 
have always a conscience without offence towards 
God and towards men. 



THE ROxMAN GOVERNOR AT CESAREA. Ill 

" Now, after many years, I came to bring alms 
to my nation, and to make offerings and vows : 
in which they found me purified in the temple : 
neither with multitude nor with tumult, by 
certain Jews from Asia, who ought to have been 
here before thee, and accuse me, if they had any- 
thing against me ; or let these men themselves say 
if they found in me any iniquity when I stood 
before their council, except it be for this one voice 
only that I cried, standing among them. Concern- 
ing the resurrection of the dead am I judged 
this day by you. 

"And Felix put them off, having most certain 
knowledge of this way, saying : When Lysias the 
tribune shall come down, I will hear you. And he 
commanded a centurion to keep him, and that he 
should be at ease, and that he should not prohibit 
any of his friends to minister unto him. 

"And after some days, Felix coming with Dru- 
silla his wife, who was a Jewess, sent for Paul, and 
heard of him the faith that is in Christ Jesus. 
And as he treated of justice and chastity, and of 
the judgment to come, Felix, being terrified, an- 
swered: For this time go thy way ; but when I 
have a convenient time, I will send for thee ; he 
was hoping also at the same time that money 
would be given him by Paul, for which cause also 
he ofttimes sent for him, and spake with him. 

" But when two years were ended, Felix had for 
successor Fortius Festus. And Felix, being will- 
ing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. 

" Now when Festus was come into the province, 
after three days he went up to Jerusalem from 



112 ST. PAUL IN THE HANDS OF 

Cesarea. And the chief priests and principal men 
of the Jews went to him against Paul ; and they 
besought him, requesting favor against him, that 
he would command him to be brought to Jerusalem, 
laying wait to kill him by the way. 

*' But Festus answered that Paul was to be kept 
in Cesarea, and that he himself would very shortly 
depart thither. Let them, therefore, saith he, 
among you that are able go down with me, and 
accuse him if there be any crime in the man. 

" And having tarried among them no more than 
eight or ten days, he went down to Cesarea, and 
the next day he sat in the judgment-seat and 
commanded Paul to be brought. And when he 
was brought, the Jews that were come down from 
Jerusalem stood about him, objecting many and 
grievous charges which they could not prove, 
Paul making answer for himself: Neither against 
the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor 
against Caesar, have I offended in anything. 

** But Festus, willing to show the Jews a pleas- 
ure, answering Paul said : Wilt thou go up to 
Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things be- 
fore me ? 

" Then Paul said : I stand at Caesar's judgment- 
seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I 
have done no injury, as thou very well knowest. 
For if I have injured them, or have committed 
anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die; but if 
there be none of these things whereof they accuse 
me, no man may deliver me to them. I appeal to 
Caesar. 

** Then Festus, having conferred with the coun- 



THE ROMAN GOVERNOR AT CESAREA. II3 

cil, answered: Hast thou appealed to Csesar? 
To Cassar shalt thou go. 

"And after some days, King Agrippa and 
Bernice came down to Cesarea to salute Festus. 

" And as they tarried there many days, Festus 
told the king of Paul, saying: A certain man was 
left prisoner by Felix, about whom, when I was at Je- 
rusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews 
came unto me, desiring condemnation against him. 
And I answered them : It is not the custom of the 
Romans to condemn any man before that he who 
is accused have his accusers present, and have 
liberty to make his answer, to clear himself of the 
things laid to his charge. When therefore they 
were come hither, without any delay, on the fol- 
lowing da}^ sitting in the judgment-seat, I com- 
manded the man to be brought. Against whom, 
when the accusers stood up, they brought no ac- 
cusation of things which I thought ill of, but had 
certain questions of their own superstition against 
him, and of one Jesus deceased, whom Paul af- 
firmed to be alive ; I therefore, being in doubt of 
this manner of question, asked him whether he 
would go to Jerusalem, and there be judged of 
these things. But Paul appealing to be reserved 
unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to 
be kept, till I might send him to Caesar. And 
Agrippa said to Festus : I would also hear the man 
myself. To-morrow, said' he, thou shalt hear him. 

"And on the next day when Agrippa and Ber- 
nice were come with great pomp, and had entered 
into the hall of audience, with the tribunes and 
principal men of the city, at Festus's command- 



114 ST. PAUL IN THE HANDS OF 

ment Paul was brought forth. And Festus saith : 
King Agrippa, and all ye men who are here pres- 
ent with us, ye see this man, about whom all the 
multitude of the Jews dealt with me at Jerusalem, 
requesting and crying out that he ought not to live 
any longer. Yet have I found nothing that he 
hath committed worthy of death. But forasmuch 
as he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have 
determined to send him. Of vyhom I have nothing 
certain to write to my lord. For which cause I 
have brought him forth before you, and especially 
before thee, O King Agrippa, that examination 
being made, I may have what to write. For it 
seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, 
and not to signify the things laid to his charge. 

''Then Agrippa said to Paul: Thou art per- 
mitted to speak for thyself. 

"Then Paul stretching forth his hand began to 
make his answer : 

" I think myself happy. King Agrippa, that I am 
to answer for myself this day before thee, touch- 
ing all the things whereof I am accused by the 
Jews. Especially as thou knowest all, both cus- 
toms and questions that are among the Jews. 
Wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. 
And my life indeed from my youth, that was from 
the beginning among my own nation in Jerusalem, 
all the Jews do know ; having known me from the 
beginning (if they will give testimony) that ac- 
cording to the most sure sect of our religion I 
lived a Pharisee. And now I stand subject to 
judgment for the hope of the promise that was 
made by God to the fathers; unto which promise 



THE ROMAN GOVERNOR AT CESAREA. II5 

our twelve tribes, serving night and day, hope to 
come. For which hope, O king! I am accused by 
the Jews. 

*' Why is it thought a thing incredible with you, 
that God should raise the dead ? And I indeed had 
thought that I ought to do many things contrary 
to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which also I 
did at Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I 
shut up in prison, having received authority of 
the chief priests ; and when they were put to 
death I gave my judgment against them. And 
oftentimes punishing them, in every synagogue, I 
compelled them to blaspheme ; and being yet more 
mad against them, I persecuted them even unto 
foreign cities. 

'* Whereupon, as I was going to Damascus with 
authority and permission of the chief priest, at 
midday in the way, I saw, O king ! a light from 
heaven above the brightness of the sun shining 
round about me and them that were with me. 
And when we were all fallen down to the ground, 
I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew 
tongue: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It 
is hard to kick against the goad. And I said : Who 
art Thou, Lord? And the Lord answered : I am 
Jesus Whom thou persecutest. But rise up and 
stand upon thy feet ; for to this end have I appeared 
to thee, that I may make thee a minister, and a 
witness of those things which thou hast seen, and 
of things wherein I will appear to thee, delivering 
thee from the people, and from the nations, unto 
which now I send thee, to open their eyes, that 
they may be turned from darkness to light, and 



It6 ST. PAUL IN THE HANDS OF 

from the power of Satan to God, that they may 
receive forgiveness of sins, and a lot among the 
saints, by the faith that is in Me. 

" Whereupon, O King Agrippa ! I was not in- 
credulous to the heavenly vision ; but to them 
first that are at Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and 
unto all the country of Judea and to the Gentiles 
did I preach, that they should do penance and turn 
to God, doing works worthy of penance. For this 
cause the Jews, when I was in the temple, having 
apprehended me, went about to kill me. But, being 
aided by the help of God, I stand unto this day, 
witnessing both to small and great, saying no 
other things than those that the prophets and 
Moses did say should come to pass, that Christ 
should suffer, and that He should be the first that 
should rise from the dead, and should show light 
to the people and to the Gentiles. 

'* As he spake these things, and made his an- 
swer, Festus said with a loud voice : Paul, thou 
art beside thyself ; much learning doth make thee 
mad. 

" And Paul said : I am not mad, most excellent 
Festus, but I speak words of truth and soberness. 
For the king knoweth of these things, to whom 
also I speak with confidence ; for I am persuaded 
that none of these things are hidden from him. 
For neither were any of these things done in a 
corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the proph- 
ets? I know that thou believest. 

" And Agrippa said to Paul : In a little thou 
persuadest me to become a Christian. And Paul 
said: I would to God that both in a little and in 



THE ROMAN GOVERNOR AT CESAREA. II7 

much, not only thou, but also all that hear me 
this day should become such as I also am, except 
these bands. 

*' And the king rose up, and the governor, and 
Bernice, and they that sat with them. And when 
they were gone aside, they spake among them- 
selves, saying : This man hath done nothing worthy 
of death or of bands. And Agrippa said to Fes- 
tus : This man might have been set at libert}^ if he 
had not appealed to Caesar." (Acts xxiv. seq.) 




Chapter VIII. 

ST. PAUL IS LED TOWARDS ROME BY JULIUS THE CENTU- 
RION. THEIR SHIPWRECK ON THE COAST OF THE 
ISLAND OF MELITA. ARRIVES AT ROME. 
WHILST PRISONER THERE DURING TWO 
YEARS HE PREACHES THE GOSPEL. HE 
WRITES TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 

ND when it was determined that he should 
sail into Italy, and that Paul with the 
other prisoners should be delivered to 
a centurion named Julius of the band Augusta, 
going on board a ship of Adrumetum, we launched, 
meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia, Aristarchus, 
the Macedonian of Thessalonica continuing with 
us. And the day following w^e came to Sidon. 
And Julius, treating Paul courteously, permitted 
him to go to his friends, and to take care of him- 
self. 

" And when we had launched from thence, we 
sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were con- 
trary. And sailing over the sea of Cilicia and 
Pamphylia, we came to Lystra, which is in Lycia ; 
and there the centurion finding a ship of Alexan- 
dria sailing into Italy, removed us into it. And 
when for many days we had sailed slowly, and 
were scarce come over against Gnidus, the wind 
not suffering us, we sailed near Crete by Salmone; 
and with much ado sailing by it, we came into a 

118 



ST. PAUL IS LED TOWARDS ROME. II9 

certain place, which is called Good-havens, nigh 
to which was the city of Thalassa. 

" And when much time was spent, and when 
sailing now was dangerous, for the fast was now 
past, Paul comforted them, saying to them : Ye men, 
I see that the voyage beginneth to be with injury, 
and much damage, not only of the lading, and ship, 
but also of our lives. But the centurion believed the 
pilot and the master of the ship, more than those 
things which were said by Paul. 

*' And whereas it was not a commodious haven 
to winter in, the greatest part gave counsel to sail 
thence, if by any means they might reach Phenice 
to winter there, which is a haven of Crete, looking 
towards the south-west and north-west. And 
the south wind gently blowing, thinking that they 
had obtained their purpose, when they had loosed 
from Asson, they sailed close by Crete. But not 
long after there arose against it a tempestuous 
wind, called Euro-aquilo. And when the ship was 
caught, and could not bear up against the wind, 
giving up the ship to the winds, we were driven. 
And running under a certain island that is called 
Clauda, we had much w^ork to come by the boat. 
Which, being taken up, they used helps, under- 
girding the ship, and fearing lest they should fall into 
the quicksands, they let down the sail-yard, and so 
were driven. And we being mightily tossed with 
the tempest, the next day they lightened the ship ; 
and the third day they cast out with their own 
hands the tackling of the ship. 

" And when neither sun nor stars appeared for 
m^ny days, and no small storm lay on us, all hope 



I20 ST, PAUL IS LED TOWARDS ROME. 

of our being saved was now taken away. And 
after they had fasted a long time, Paul, standing 
forth in the midst of them, said : Ye should indeed, 
O ye men ! have hearkened unto me, and not have 
loosed from Crete, and have gained this harm and 
loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer ; 
for there shall be no loss of any man's life among 
you, but only of the ship. For an angel of God, 
Whose I am, and Whom I serve, stood by me this 
night, saying : Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought 
before C^sar, and behold God hath given thee all 
them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of 
good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be so 
as it hath been told me. But we must come into 
a certain island. 

" Now, after the fourteenth night was come, as 
we were sailing in Adria, about midnight the ship- 
men deemed that they discovered some country. 
And they also sounded, and found twenty fathoms ; 
and going on a little farther they sounded again, 
and found fifteen fathoms. Then, fearing lest we 
should fall upon rough places, they cast f ou r anchors 
out of the stern, and wished for the day. But as the 
shipmen sought to flee out of the ship, having let 
down the boat into the sea, under color as though 
they would have cast anchors out of the fore-part of 
the ship, Paul said to the centurion and to the 
soldiers : Except these stay in the ship, ye cannot 
be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of 
the boat, and let her fall off. 

" And when it began to be light, Paul besought 
them all to take meat, saying : This day is the four- 
teenth day that ye wait and remain fasting, taking 



ST. PAUL IS LED TOWARDS ROME. 121 

nothing ; wherefore I pray you to take some meat 
for your health's sake : for there shall not a hair of 
the head of any of you perish. And when he had 
said these things, taking bread, he gave thanks to 
God in sight of them all ; and when he had broken 
it, he began to eat. Then were they all of better 
cheer, and they also took some meat. And we 
were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and 
sixteen souls. And when they had eaten enough, 
they lightened the ship, casting the wheat into the 
sea. 

" And when it was day, they knew not the land ; 
but they discovered a certain creek that had a 
shore, into which they minded, if they could, to 
thrust in the ship. And when they had taken up the 
anchors, they committed themselves to the sea, 
loosing withal the rudder- bands ; and hoisting up 
the mainsail to the wind, they made towards the 
shore. And when we were fallen into a place 
where two seas met, they ran the ship aground ; 
and the fore-part indeed sticking fast remained 
immovable; but the hinder part was broken with the 
violence of the sea. And the soldiers' counsel was 
that they should kill the prisoners, lest any one of 
them should swim out, and escape. But ihe cen- 
turion, willing to save Paul, forbade it to be done ; 
and he commanded that they who could swim 
should cast themselves first into the sea, and save 
themselves and get to land : and the rest, some 
they carried on boards, and some on those things 
that belonged to the ship. And so it came to pass 
that every soul got safe to land. 

" And when we had escaped, then we knew that 



122 ST. PAUL S SHIPWRECK. 

the island was called Melita. But the barbarians 
showed us no small courtesy, for having kindled a 
fire, they refreshed us all, because of the present 
rain and cold. And when Paul had gathered to- 
gether a bundle of sticks, and had laid them on the 
fire, a viper when it had come out of the heat 
fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians 
saw the beast hanging on his hand, the}' said one 
to another: Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, 
who, though he hath escaped the sea, yet ven- 
geance doth not suffer him to live. And he indeed 
shaking off the beast into the fire, suffered no harm. 
But they supposed that he would begin to swell up, 
or would suddenly fall down, and die. But when 
they had waited for a long time, and saw that 
there came no harm to him, changing their minds, 
they said that he was a god. 

" Now in these places were possessions of the 
chief man of the island, named Publius, who re- 
ceived us, and for three days entertained us cour- 
teously. And it happened that the father of Pub- 
lius lay sick of a fever, and of a bloody flux. To 
whom Paul entered in ; and when he had prayed, 
and laid his hands on him, he healed him. And 
when this was done, all that had diseases in the 
island came, and were healed. And they also 
honored us with many honors, and when we were 
to sail, they laded us with such things as were 
necessary. 

'* And after three months, we sailed in a ship 
of Alexandria, that had wintered in the island, 
whose sign was the Castors. And when we were 
come to Syracusa, we tarried there three days. 



ST. PAUL IN ROME. I 23 

From thence, compassing by the shore, we came 
to Rhegium ; and after one day, the south wind 
blowing, we came the second day to Puteoli, where, 
finding brethren, we were desired to tarry with 
them seven days ; and so we went to Rome. And 
from thence, when the brethren had heard of us, 
they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and 
the Three Taverns. And when Paul saw them he 
gave thanks to God and took courage." (Actsxxvii.) 

Great must have been the delight of St. Paul, 
when, on landing at Puteoli (Pozzuoli in Campania), 
he found there brethren, and at their request re- 
mained with them seven days. St. Luke in his 
Acts does not tell us who had preached the Gospel 
to the inhabitants of this city, but it was undoubt- 
edly St. Peter, or some one sent by him, for he 
had long ere this established his see at Rome. 

Equally great must have been the joy of the 
Puteolites who had heard of the miracles which 
St. Paul had performed on the island of Melita, 
and whose labors in Asia and Greece were well 
known to them. St. Paul moreover had, two years 
before this, written his celebrated Epistle to the 
Romans, and we may rightly conjecture that this re- 
markable document had been communicated to 
those of Puteoli from the great capital of the 
world. 

When our Apostle was yet at a distance of filty- 
one miles frum Rome, he was met at Appii Forum 
by an advance band of Christians from the great 
city, and at the Three Taverns, thirty miles 
from it, he found others waiting to welcome 
him. This deputation from Rome was undoubt- 



124 ST. PAUL IN ROME, 

edly made up of the chief among the Christian 
Jews and the most noble of the converted prose- 
lytes. To these the name of Paul was familiar ; 
they knew of his miraculous conversion, of his 
labors in Jerusalem, Antioch, Tarsus, Ephesus, 
Philippi, Corinth, and other places, and many of 
them ma}^ have possessed a copy of the Epistle 
which the great Apostle had written to them about 
two years before this time. 

The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans had been 
written from Cenchras, a port of Corinth, when 
he was starting for Jerusalem. It was brought to 
the Christians of Rome by Phoebe, a deaconess of 
Corinth. 

This letter was addressed to all who were at Rome^ 
the beloved of God, whose faith at that early date 
was spoken of in the whole world. There lived at 
Rome at that time many noble Christians who, 
born in Asia, had settled in Rome, and also many 
noble Christians of the city who had visited the 
East. The affection of Paul extended not to those 
only whom he mentions nominally in his Epistle, 
but to all the Christians of the great city. *' God, 
Whom I serve in my spirit, in the Gospel of His 
Son, is my witness that without ceasing I make 
mention of you always in my prayers : beseeching 
if by any means at length by the will of God I may 
at some time have a prosperous journey to come to 
you. For I long to see you." St. Paul had often 
purposed to come unto the Romans, but had been 
hindered up to the time of the writing of his letter, 
when he was starting from Corinth to Jerusalem. 
This, as we have remarked, was two years before 



ST. PAUL IN ROME. I 25 

he arrived in Rome. He had already spread the 
Gospel of Christ round about from Jerusalem unto 
lUyrium, and now he was on his way to Jerusalem 
to carry contributions to their poor brethren of 
that city ; but after accomplishing this, he desired 
to go by Rome to Spain. 

" When I shall (begin to) take my journey into 
Spain, I hope that as I pass I shall see you, and 
be brought on my way thither by you, if first in 
part I shall have enjoyed you." 

After writing his Epistle to the Romans from 
the port of Corinth, St. Paul accomplished his 
project of going to Jerusalem. But here, as we 
have related, he was made a prisoner by the Roman 
governor living at Cesarea, at the instigation of 
the Jews. For two years he remained a prisoner, 
but owing to his appeal to Caesar, he was sent to 
Rome, the residence of the emperor. 

We have just described his arrival in the city. 
St. Luke, his historian, informs us that '* when we 
were come to Rome, Paul was suffered to dwell by 
himself, with a soldier that kept him," in private 
lodgings. He was here in military custody, but 
with so much indulgence that it resembled libera 
custodia. 

We learn what the results were of the preaching 
of St. Paul whilst a prisoner in Rome: 

" And after the third day, he called together the 
chief of the Jews. And when they were assembled, 
he said to them: Men brethren, I, having done 
nothing against the people, or the custom of our 
fathers, was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem in- 
to the hands of the Romans, who, when they had 



126 ST. PAUL IN ROME. 

examined me, would have released me, for that there 
was no cause of death in me ; but when the Jews 
spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto 
Caesar, not that I had anything to accuse my nation 
of. For this cause therefore I desired to see you, 
and to speak to 3'ou. Because that for the hope of 
Israel I am bound with this chain. 

*' But they said to him: We neither received let- 
ters concerning thee from Judea, neither did any of 
the brethren that came hither relate or speak any 
evil of thee. But we desire to hear of thee what 
thou thinkest ; for as concerning this sect, we 
know that it is gainsaid everywhere. 

** And when they had appointed him a day, there 
came very many to him unto his lodgings, to whom 
he expounded, testifying the kingdom of God, and 
persuading them concerning Jesus, out of the law 
of Moses and the prophets, from morning until 
evening. And some believed the things that were 
said; but some believed not. And when they 
agreed not among themselves, they departed, Paul 
speaking this one word: Well did the Holy Ghost 
speak to our fathers by Isaias the prophet, saying : 
Go to this people, and say to them: With the ear ye 
shall hear, and shall not understand ; and seeing ye 
shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this 
people is grown gross, and with their ears have they 
heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut ; lest per- 
haps they should see ivith their eyes, andJuar with their 
ears, and under stajid zvith their hearty and should be 
coJiverted, a7id I should heal them. Be it known 
therefore to you that this salvation of God is sent 
to the Gentiles, and they will hear it. 



ST. PAUL IN ROME. I 27 

" And when he had said these things, the Jews 
went out from him, having reasoned much among 
themselves. 

** He remained two whole years in his own 
hired lodgings, and he received all who came to him, 
preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the 
things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with 
all confidence, without prohibition." (Acts xxviii.) 

Towards the end of his long captivity (about the 
year 62) he wrote a letter to the Philippians, to 
whom he had preached the Gospel ten years before, 
and whom he held in sincere affection on account of 
their generosity towards him. To them he partially 
spoke of his success at Rome in the following lan- 
guage : 

"Now, brethren, I desire you should know that 
the things which have happened to me have fallen 
out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel. So that 
my bonds are made manifest, in Christ, in all the 
court and in all other places. And many of the 
brethren in the Lord growing confident by my bonds, 
are much more bold to speak the word of God 
without fear. Some indeed even out of envy and 
contention: but some also for good-will preach 
Christ. Some out of charity : knowing that I am 
set for the defence of the Gospel. And some out 
of contention preach Christ not sincerely, suppos- 
ing that they raise affliction to my bonds. But 
what then ? So that by all means, whether by oc- 
casion, or by truth, Christ be preached. In this 
also I rejoice, yea and will rejoice. For I know 
that this shall fall out to me unto salvation, through 
your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus 



128 ST. PAUL IN ROME. 

Christ. According to my expectation and hope, 
that in nothing I shall be confounded, but with 
all confidence, as always, so now also shall Christ 
be magnified in my body, whether it be b}" life or 
by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die 
is gain." 

This Epistle he ended by saying : " The brethren 
that are with me salute you. All the saints salute 
you, especially those who are of the household of 
Csesar." This means that the preaching of the 
Gospel had reached the imperial residence. 



Chapter IX. 

APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. 

tN former chapters, whilst in search of the rule 
of faith and morals left by Jesus Christ to 
perpetuate among men the doctrine and pre- 
cepts which He taught on earth, we followed St. 
Peter in Jerusalem, and the great St. Paul all along 
the shore cities of the Mediterranean Sea, convert- 
ing the multitude of nations, not by the written, 
but by the spoken word of God. 

In this chapter we intend to speak of St. Peter, 
not as head of the Church, but as one of the apos- 
tles of Christ. 

St. Peter, whose name was Simon before his 
vocation to the apostleship, was the son of John 
or Jona, a dweller in a small village of Galilee 
named Bethsaida, and was by profession a fisher- 
man. Like all the devout Jews of his day, Simon 
Peter sighed for the coming of the Saviour of 
the world. 

Andrew, his brother, having informed him that 
they had found the Messias announced by the 
prophets, he went to see Him, and from that mo- 
ment became one of His disciples, although he did 
not immediately follow Him. 

Shortly after. Our Saviour saw Peter and 
Andrew washing their nets by the Lake of Genes- 

129 



130 APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. 

areth, and said to them: " Follow Me, and I will 
make you fishers of men ; and they at once left all 
they had, and followed Him." 

Peter was, of all the disciples of Christ, the most 
remarkable by his ardent affection for his Master. 
On one occasion he was in a boat with the other 
disciples. Jesus Christ came towards them, walk- 
ing on the water. Impatient to meet his Master, 
Peter exclaims. If it be Thou^ command me to come to 
Thee on the waters, and upon the command of His 
Master he throws himself out of the boat, and by 
His power walks on the waters. 

Christ had been discoursing about the future 
institution of the Holy Eucharist. He had de- 
clared that the bread which He would give was 
His flesJi for the life of the world. Alter this, many 
of His disciples, not being able to comprehend this 
doctrine, and being too proud to submit their un- 
derstanding to the authority of one whom they 
knew had been sent of God, went back and ivalked no 
more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve : 
Will ye also go away ? Simon Peter therefore an- 
swered Him : Lord, to wJiom shall we go ? Thou Jiast 
the words of eternal life. (John vi.) 

Again Jesus Christ informs His disciples of 
His forthcoming sufferings and death. Moved 
with compassion and love, Peter takes his Master 
aside, begins to expostulate with Him, to beg of 
Him that it may be far from Him that it should be 
so. (Matt, xvi.) 

Later on, Peter, having heard Jesus Christ de- 
clare that all His disciples would forsake Him, 
protested to Him that he would lay down his life 



APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. 131 

for Him : that though all would abandon Him, 
he would not. 

Peter indeed followed Jesus Christ from Geth- 
semani to within the palaces of Annas and Caiphas. 
Here he had the misfortune to deny his Master. 
His sin was one of presumption and weakness, 
not of malice ; hence he did not remain an 
enem}^ of God for a long time. Christ looked at 
him ; Peter went out and wept bitterly, and we are 
toldthat he never after forgot his denial of his Mas- 
ter, that he wept for it continually, so much so 
that his eyes were, as it were, dyed in blood 
and his cheeks bore the marks of his continual 
tears. 

If the affection of Peter towards Christ was 
great, great also was the affection of the Master 
towards this disciple. Peter was the first whom 
He called to follow Him as an apostle. He willed 
Peter to be with Him when at Capharnaum He 
raised to life the daughter of Jairus, when He 
transfigured Himself on Mount Thabor, when He 
suffered a bloody sweat in the garden of Geth- 
semani. It was Peter whom He commanded to 
prepare the last Pasch, to him He had revealed 
who it was who would betray Him. To Peter 
Our Lord showed Himself first of the apostles on 
the day of His resurrection. 

In this chapter we do not intend to consider 
the privilege promised and granted by the 
Redeemer to Simon Peter to make him the head 
of the Church and His vicegerent or vicar on 
earth, but we will consider him as an apostle, 
doing what St. Paul and the other apostles did, 



132 APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. 

that is, teaching men to observe whatsoever Jesus 
Christ had commanded them. 

When the twelve holy apostles had received 
from the Holy Ghost the power to speak all lan- 
guages, they divided the whole world into dis- 
tricts, which they severally allotted to themselves 
as fields for their Gospel labors. (Rom. Brev. 
Jan. 18.) 

St. Peter began his apostolic labors ten days 
after the ascension of Our Lord into heaven, 
that is, on the day of Pentecost, 15th of May, of 
the year 34 from the birth of Christ. On this day 
St. Peter, full of the Holy Ghost, preached before 
a large crowd of people, and converted three 
thousand men. (Acts ii. 41.) Some days after, 
being freed from prison, he preached in the temple 
and converted five thousand more. During the 
four years or more that he stayed in Jerusalem, he 
visited and preached the Gospel in many parts of 
Samaria (Acts viii.) and visited especially the city 
of Samaria itself, where he administered the sac- 
rament of Confirmation, and sharply rebuked 
Simon Magus. (Acts viii.) 

Having heard that in Syria, in the city of An- 
tioch, the Gospel had made wonderful progress, 
Barnabas and several of the disciples hastened 
thither, and St. Peter also. In this city of Antioch, 
the then largest city of the world after Rome, 
Peter set up his chair as bishop, as we learn from 
St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. " The solemn 
feast of to-day [St. Peter's chair at Antioch] re- 
ceived from our forefathers the name of that of St. 
Peter's chair at Antioch, because there is a tradi- 



APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. I33 

tion that it was on this day that Peter, first of the 
apostles, was enthroned in a bishop's chair." 

During his episcopacy at Antioch, which lasted 
seven years, St. Peter made excursions to the 
neighboring provinces of Asia Minor, Pontus, 
Galatia, Cappadocia. and Bethania, as St. Leo testi- 
fies (Sermon on SS. Peter and Paul), and revisited 
them later on. 

In the eleventh year after the ascension of Our 
Lord, which was the second year of the reign of the 
Roman emperor Claudius, St. Peter left the bishop- 
ric of Antioch, which he entrusted to Evodius, and 
chose for himself Rome. Before going to Rome, 
however, he first went to Jerusalem. Here he was 
cast into prison by Herod, but was miraculously 
delivered by an angel. (Acts xii.) He now begins 
his journey towards Italy and arrives at Rome. 

"At the time of the arrival of St. Peter at Rome, 
this city, the capital of the known world, had at- 
tained the summit of her glory. . . . The decline 
of Roman virtue prepared the Romans for slavery, 
and the Cassars found little difficulty in imposing 
their yoke on a people already debased in morals. 
Still the pride as well as the pleasures of these 
masters of the world had to be gratified. This the 
Cassars did with treasures brought from the four 
corners of the globe: with the rich booty wrested 
from the stripped and plundered provinces. 
Whilst he had circus and baths, the luxurious 
Roman gave little thought to liberty. . . . 

" Rome spread into immense proportions. Tem- 
ples, theatres, baths, gardens, pleasure grounds, 
all of the most imposing grandeur, were gradu- 



134 APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. 

ally constructed. Of statues in pure marble the 
number was infinite, and such was the demand 
at this time for every species of work in stone, 
that besides her own two millions of inhabitants, the 
city supported quite a population of foreign ar- 
tists, stone cutters, and masons. Through sixteen 
large gates, the Romans had egress to the sur- 
rounding countr}^ and no less than eight hundred 
and twenty paved high-roads led into the different 
provinces, forming with their intersections a net- 
work of easy thoroughfares, beginning at the gold- 
en milestone erected by Augustus in the forum 
at the foot of the capital as the central point of 
the empire, and spreading thence over the known 
world. 

"Such was Rome when St. Peter, in the begin- 
ning of the reign of Claudius, first stood within 
her gates." (Brandes' " Rome and the Popes.") 

Of the arrival of St. Peter at Rome we have 
the following eloquent passage in one of the ser- 
mons of St. Leo : 

" When the twelve holy apostles had received 
from the Holy Ghost the power to speak all lan- 
guages, they divided the whole world into districts, 
which they severally allotted to themselves as fields 
for their Gospel labors. Then was Peter, the head 
of the apostles, sent to the capital city of the Roman 
empire, that he might cause the Hght to shine 
thence throughout the whole body of civilized 
nations. At that time what nation was there that 
had no representative in Rome? What Rome 
had learned, what people that did not learn it too? 

" In Rome were the dreams of an unbelieving 



APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. I35 

philosophy to be destroyed : in Rome were the 
empty utterances of earthly wisdom to be confuted : 
in Rome was idolatry to be overcome: in Rome 
profanity to be put down, even in Rome where 
the activity of superstition had gathered together 
from the whole earth every error which it could 
find. O most blessed apostle Peter ! this was the 
city to which thou didst not shrink to come. The 
apostle Paul, thy comrade in glory, was yet oc- 
cupied in founding the churches, and thou didst 
enter alone into that forest of wild beasts roaring 
furiously ; thou didst commit thyself to that stormy 
ocean, more boldly than when thou walkedst upon 
the waters to come to Jesus. Thou hadst already 
taught them of the circumcision who were con- 
verted: thou hadst founded the church at An- 
tioch, the first that bore the noble name of Chris- 
tian : thou hadst published the law of the Gospel 
throughout Pont us, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and 
Bethania, and thou didst not fear for the hardness 
of thy work, nor turn back because of thine old 
age, but didst boldly set up the trophy of the 
cross of Christ upon those Roman walls, where the 
Providence of God had appointed the throne of 
thy honor, and the glorious scene of thy passion." 
Doubtless St. Peter's first little congregation at 
Rome was composed of those Jews who had gone 
to the yearly celebration at Jerusalem, and had 
been converted by the apostle's first sermons after 
the descent of the Holy Ghost. They dwelt in 
Rome with those of their own nation, who exclu- 
sively inhabited a small district of the city near the 
Porta Capena, beyond the Tiber. By the zeal 



136 APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. 

of this little Jew-Christian congregation the knowl- 
edge of the Gospel was soon spread among the 
Romans proper, and, no doubt, among the higher 
circles of society also. 

It is not unlikely that Peter's first lodgings in 
Rome were situated on the great aristocratic 
street called Viciis Comeliorum. On this street 
was the palace or mansion of that noble Cornelius, 
who by divine admonition was baptized, together 
with his whole family, by Peter in Cesarea. In 
this wise we can account for the fact of so many 
noble names appearing among the earliest Roman 
Christians. St. Peter was soon introduced by the 
centurion to the head of the Cornelius family, 
the Senator Cornelius Pudens. This nobleman's 
house, situated on the Viminal hill, was the first 
Christian church in the city. The senator's 
whole family : his wife Priscilla,his grand-daughters 
Pudentiana and Praxedes, and his son Pudens, and 
his grand-sons Timothy and Novatus, all became 
saints of the Church. Pudens himself died a 
martyr. Priscilla devoted herself to the work 
of burying those who died for Christ, in that 
catacomb now called by her name. St. Puden- 
tiana was so active in spreading the truths of the 
Christian religion that she at one time brought no 
less than six hundred and ninety persons to the 
Pope, all so well instructed and prepared by her- 
self that he had nothing to do but baptize them. 
These two sisters, Praxedes and Pudentiana, with 
the most heroic self-sacrifice, and at the constant 
peril of their lives, interred the bodies of upwards 
of three thousand martyrs. 



APOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. I37 

The consul Flavins Clemens, who was the near- 
est of kin to the emperor Domitian, together 
with his wife Flavia Domitilla and his niece of the 
same name and of still greater renown, as well as 
his two sons, who had been raised to the dignity 
of Caesars, all ably co-operated in these good works 
with the family of Cornelius. From the " Acts 
of the Martyrs " we learn that the infant Church 
already numbered among her members individ- 
uals from every rank and shade of society, pa- 
tricians and plebeians, rich and poor, masters and 
slaves. The number of the poor who almost im- 
mediately accepted the faith was immense, and of 
the higher classes, besides the names already men- 
tioned, several others have come down to us of the 
noblest families of Rome. Of the adorable name 
of Jesus, the "Acts of theMartyrs" speak with all 
the fire and fervor of early love, which makes St. 
Jerome say that " the hearts of the faithful were still 
warmed by the hot blood of Jesus." Hence could 
St. Paul, who had come to Rome about the year 
62, when writing to the Philippians, send them 
greeting from the saints at Rome, especially from 
those of the imperial household ; and he had 
four years before written to the Romans: "I give 
thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for you 
all, because your faith is spoken of in the whole 
world." (Rom. i. 8.) 

St. Peter had lived at Rome, or rather had be- 
gan his missionary labors in that city, only twelve 
years before St. Paul had declared that the faith 
of the Romans ivas spoken of in the whole world. 
To his preaching, his charity, his saintly life, and 



138 APOSTOLATE OF 5T. PETER. 

the power of working miracles, was due that 
wonderful progress of the Gospel. The number 
of Christians increasing steadily every year, he 
chose the most distinguished among them, and sent 
them as bishops or priests to different parts of the 
world. (See Roman Martyrology.) 

Seven years after St. Peter's arrival in Rome the 
emperor Claudius banished all the Jews from that 
city, and with the Jews he banished the Christians, 
who were considered by the Pagans a Jewish sect. 

St. Peter, leaving Rome, directed his journe\' , 
according to some, first to Britain ; according to 
Metaphrastes, first to Carthage, then to Alexandria, 
where he left his disciple Mark to govern it, and 
continued his journey to Jerusalem. After the 
death of Claudius his decree of persecution 
against the Jews ceased to be observed, and Peter 
returned to Rome with many of the Jews who had 
left it with him. In Rome our great apostle con- 
tinued his labors, leaving it at times to preach the 
Gospel in other places. Here it was that in the 
year 6^^ according to the accepted opinion, he re- 
ceived the crown of martyrdom with his glorious 
fellow-laborer St. Paul. 

From the preceding sketch of the labors of St. 
Peter as an apostle we may justly infer that his 
success in founding churches and obtaining con- 
versions, chiefly among the Jews, was immense, 
that he preached chiefly in Asia from Antioch to 
the shores of the Atlantic without interfering: with 
the labors of St. Paul, and also in the provinces 
north and west of Rome. 

Need we repeat that it was by preaching that 



ArOSTOLATE OF ST. PETER. 139 

he founded churches, and not b)^ telling men to read 
the Gospel? He himself wrote two epistles for 
the edification of his converts, and approved the 
Gospel of St. Mark as a book containing the doc- 
trine he preached to the Romans; but these books 
were written for the use of those who were already 
converts, and not as the chief means to obtain the 
conversion of unbelievers. 



Chapter X. 

THE OTHER APOSTLES. 

fN the preceding chapter we have spoken about 
the apostolate of St. Peter. We now intend 
to write about the labors of the other apostles. 

ST. ANDREW. 

Andrew was born at Bethsaida, a town of Galilee 
and was the brother of Peter. He was a disciple 
of John the Baptist, and heard him say of 
Christ, Behold the Lamb of God, Whereupon he 
immediately followed Jesus, bringing his brother 
also with him. Some while after, they were both 
fishing in the sea of Galilee, and the Lord Christ 
going by, called them both: ''Follow Me and I will 
make you fishers of menT They made no delay, 
but left their nets and followed Him. After the 
death and resurrection of Christ, Andrew was al- 
lotted Scythia as the province of his preaching, 
and after laboring there, he went through Epirus 
and Thrace, where he turned great multitudes to 
Christ by his teaching and miracles. Finall}^ 
he went to Patras in Achaia, and there also 
he brought many to the knowledge of the Gospel 
truth. Aegeas, the proconsul, resisted the preach- 
ing of the Gospel, and the apostle freely rebuked 
him, bidding him know that while he held him- 

140 



THE OTHER APOSTLES. I41 

self a judge of his fellow-men, he was himself hin- 
dered by devils from knowing Christ Our Lord, 
the Judge of all. 

Then Aegeas, being angry, answered him: *' Boast 
no more of this thy Christ. He spake words even 
such as thine, but they availed Him not, and He 
was crucified by the Jews." To this Andrew 
boldly answered that Christ had given Himself 
up to die for man's salvation ; but the proconsul 
blasphemously interrupted him, and bade him look 
to himself, and sacrifice to the gods. Then said 
Andrew : '* We have an altar whereon day by day 
I offer up to God the almighty, the one and the 
true, not the flesh of bulls, nor the blood of goats, 
but a Lamb without spot, and when all they that 
believe have eaten of the flesh thereof, the Lamb 
that was slain abideth whole and liveth." Then 
Aegeas, being filled with wrath, bound the apostle 
in prison. Now the people would have delivered 
him, but he himself calmed the multitude and ear- 
nestly besought them not lo take away from him 
the crown of martyrdom, for which he longed, and 
which was now drawing near. 

Some short while after he was brought before 
the judgment-seat, where he extolled the mystery 
of the cross, and rebuked Aegeas for his ungodli- 
ness. Then Aegeas could bear with him no longer, 
and commanded him to be crucified in imitation of 
Christ. Andrew then was led to the place of 
martyrdom, and as soon as he came in sight of the 
cross, he cried out : "O precious cross ! which the 
members of my Lord have made so goodly, how 
long have I desired thee ! How warmly have I 



142 THE OTHER APOSTLES, 

l(n'ed thee I How constantly have I sought thee ! 
and now that thou hast come to me, how is my soul 
drawn to thee ! Welcome me from amono^ men, 
and join me again to my Master, that as by thee 
He redeemed me, so by thee also He may take me 
unto Himself." So he was fastened to the cross, 
whereon he hung living for two days, during 
which time he ceased not to preach the faith of 
Christ, and finally passed to the presence of Him 
the likeness of whose death he had loved so well. 
All the above, particularly the account of his last 
sufferintrs, was written by the priests and deacons 
of Achaia, who bear witness to it of their own 
knowledge. Under the emperor Constantine the 
bones of the apostle were first taken to Constanti- 
nople, whence they were afterwards brought to 
Amalfi. In the pontificate of Pope Pius II. his 
head was carried to Rome, where it is kept in the 
Basilica of St. Peter. 

ST. THOMAS. 

The apostle Thomas, called Didymus, or the 
twin, was a Galilean. He was one of those who 
listened to the invitation of Christ, leaving all 
things to follow Him, and with the other eleven had 
the honor of being elected an apostle on the moun- 
tain of the beatitudes. St. Thomas is well known 
(John XX.) by his doubts regarding the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ; but those doubts, says St. Gregor\% 
have done us more good than the faith of all the 
disciples that believed. While he feeleth his way 
to faith, our minds are freed from doubt and set- 
tled in faith. St. Thomas was in the company of 



THE OTHER APOSTLES. 1 43 

the Saviour when He said to Peter : " I say to thee 
that thou art Peter (that is rock), and upon this 
rock I will build My Church." He was present 
with St. Peter and the other apostles upon the 
mountain of Galilee (probably Mt. Thabor) when 
Jesus Christ appeared to them, saying : "iVll power 
is given to Me in heaven and on earth; going, 
therefore, teach all nations." Another great priv- 
ilege granted to St. Thomas was that of being 
present on the shore of the lake of Tiberias, when 
the Saviour, appearing to him and six other dis- 
ciples, one of whom was St. Peter, said to the 
son of Jona : " Lovest thou Me ? . . . Feed My 
lambs, feed My sheep." After the ascension of the 
Son of God into heaven, he participated with the 
other apostles in the election of St. Matthias, 
who was chosen in the place of Judas, the betrayer 
of his Master. 

After the descent of the Holy Ghost, Thomas 
went into many provinces to preach Christ's Gos- 
pel. He gave knowledge of the rules of Christian 
faith and life to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, 
Hyscanians, and Bactrians. He went last to the 
East Indies. Here he provoked the anger of one 
of the idolatrous kings, because the holiness of 
his life and teachings and the number of his mir- 
acles drew many after him, and brought them to 
the love of Jesus Christ. He was therefore con- 
demned, and slain with lances. He crowned the 
dignity of the apostleship with the glory of the 
martyrdom, on the Coromandel coast, not far from 
Madras. 

According to a legend collected by Rev. Atha- 



144 1HE OTHER APOSTLES. 

nasius Kircher, S. J., from the archives of the 
Christians of Meliapoar, St. Thomas consecrated 
everywhere bishops and priests, and in this same 
city he assembled the bishops in council. 

ST. MATTHEW. 

'• It came to pass one day at Capharnaum that 
Christ went forth and saw a publican named Levi 
silting at the receipt of custom ; and He said unto 
him : Follow Me; and he left all, rose up, and fol- 
lowed Him. And Levi made Himagreatfeast inhis 
own house." (Luke v. 27-29.) 

This Levi is the apostle and evangelist Matthew. 
After Christ had risen from the dead, and while 
Matthew was yet in Judea, before he set forth 
to that land which had fallen to his lot for preach- 
ing, he wrote the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 
the Hebrew tongue, for the sake of those of the 
circumcision who had believed. His w^as the first 
written of the four Gospels. Thereafter he went 
to Ethiopia, and there preached the Gospel, con- 
firming his preaching by many miracles. Of his 
miracles the most notable was that he raised the 
king's daughter from the dead, and thereby 
brought to believe in Christ the king, her father, 
his wife, and all that region. After the king was 
dead, Hirtasus, who came after him, was fain to take 
his daughter Iphigenia to wife ; but by the exhor- 
tation of Matthew she had made a vow of virginity 
to God, and stood firm to that holy resolution, for 
which cause Hirtaeus commanded the apostle to 
be slain at the altar, while he was performing the 
mystery. He crowned the dignity of the apostle- 



THE OTHER APOSTLES. I45 

ship with the glory of martyrdom upon the 21st 
day of September. He had lived twenty-three 
years in Ethiopia, during which time he had con- 
verted innumerable souls to God, thrown down 
temples of the idols, erected churches in their 
place, ordained priests, and consecrated bishops. 
During the pontificate of Gregory VI I. his body 
was brought to Salerno, where it is held in great 
veneration in a church dedicated to his name. 

SS. PHILIP AND JAMES. 

Philip was born in the town of Bethsaida, and 
was one of the first of the twelve apostles called by 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Then " Philip findeth Na- 
thanael, and saith unto him : We have found Him 
of Whom Moses in the law and the Prophets did 
write" (John i. 45), and so he brought him to the 
Lord. How intimate he was with Christ is mani- 
fest from what is written: *' There were certain 
Greeks among them that came up to worship at the 
feast. The same came therefore to Philip,. .. and 
desired him, saying: Sir, we would see Jesus." 
(John xii. 20, 21.) When the Lord was in the wil- 
derness, and was about to feed a great multitude, 
''He said unto Philip: Whence shall we buy 
bread that these may eat?" (John vi. 5.) After Philip 
had received the Holy Ghost, he took Scythia by lot 
as the land wherein he was to preach the Gospel, and 
brought nearly all that people to believe in Christ. 
At last he came to Hieropolis in Phrygia, and 
there for Christ's name's sake he was fastened to 
a cross and stoned to death. The day was the 
first of May. The Christians of Hieropolis buried 



14^ THE OTHER APOSTLES. 

his body at that place, but it was afterwards 
brought to Rome, and laid in the Basilica of the 
twelve apostles, beside that of the blessed apos- 
tle James. 

James, surnamed the Less, the brother (cousin) 
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, was a Nazarite from 
the womb. During his whole life he never drank 
wine or strong drink, never ate meat, never 
shaved, and never bathed. He was the only man 
who was allowed to enter that part of the temple 
named the Holy. His raiment was always linen. 
So continually did he kneel in prayer that the skin 
of his knees became horny like a camel's knees. 
After the ascension of Christ, Jerusalem was gov- 
erned by Peter and the other apostles. But when 
the number of Christians had very much increased, 
and the apostles were about to separate, leaving 
Jerusalem to go through the whole world, St. Peter 
established St. James bishop of Jerusalem, with the 
approval of the other apostles, for James was vener- 
ated by all on account of his extraordinary virtue. 
The letter of St. Anacletus states that the ordination 
was performed by St. Peter, assisted by St. James 
the Greater and his brother St. John. For this 
reason did the Church rule that three bishops 
should participate in the consecration of a bishop. 
Through respect for the dignity of James as bishop 
of Jerusalem, St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, 
gave special intelligence to him, after he had been 
delivered from prison by an angel. (Acts xii. 17.) 
When in the council of Jerusalem some questions 
were mooted touching the law and circumcision, 
James, following the opinion of Peter, addressed a 



THE OTHER APOSTLES. 147 

discourse to the brethren, wherein he proved the 
call of the Gentiles, and recommended letters to 
be sent to such brethren as were absent, that they 
might take heed not to lay upon the Gentiles the 
yoke of the law of Moses. (Acts xv. 13, 29.) 

So great was James' holiness of life that men 
strove with one another to touch the hem of his 
garment. When he was ninety-six years old, and 
had most holily governed the Church of Jerusalem 
for thirty years, constantly preaching Christ, the 
Son of God, he laid down his life for the faith. He 
was first stoned, and afterwards taken up on a 
pinnacle of the temple, and cast down from 
thence. His legs were broken by the fall, and he 
was well-nigh dead, but he lifted up his hands to- 
wards heaven, and prayed to God for the salva- 
tion of his murderers, saying: " Lord, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do." As he said this, 
one who stood by smote him grievously upon the 
head with a fuller's club, and he resigned his spirit 
to God. He died in the seventh year of Nero, 
and was buried near the temple in the place where 
he had fallen. He wrote one of the seven epistles 
which are called catholic. Our St. James is 
named the Less, perhaps because he was called by 
the Saviour after St. James the Greater, son of Zeb- 
edee, or because he was of low stature. 

The bodies of SS. Phihp and James were found 
on the 17th of January, 1873, under the great 
altar of the church of the twelve apostles in 
Rome. 



48 THE OTHER APOSTLES. 



ST. JAMES THE GREATER. 



James, the son of Zebedee, and brother of the 
apostle John, was a Galilean, and with his brother 
one of the first of the apostles whom the Lord 
called while they were *' in a ship with Zebedee, 
their father, mending their nets, and they imme- 
diately left the ship and their father and followed 
Him" (Matt iv. 21, 22), and He surnamed them 
Boanerges, which is " the sons of thunder'' (Mark iii. 
17.) Peter and James and John were the three 
apostles whom the Saviour loved best. Them " He 
took and brought up into a high mountain apart, 
and was transfigured before them." (Matt. xvii. i, 2.) 
When He went to the house of the ruler of the 
synagogue to raise his daughter from the dead, 
" He suffered no man to follow Him save Peter 
and James and John." (Mark. v. 37.) And at the last, 
just before the Jews took Him, " He comes in- 
to a place called Gethsemani, and saith unto the 
disciples : Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. 
... He took with Him Peter and the two sons of 
Zebedee." (Matt. xxvi. 36, 37.) 

After Jesus was ascended into heaven, James 
preached that He was God, and led many in Judea 
and Samaria to the Christian faith. A while after 
he went to Spain, and there he brought some to 
Christ, of whom seven were afterwards ordained 
bishops by blessed Peter, and were the first such sent 
into that country. From Spain James went back 
to Jerusalem, where he taught the faith to several 
persons, and among others to the Magia Hermo- 
genes. Thereupon Herod Agrippa, who had been 



THE OTHER APOSTLES. I49 

raised to the kingdom under the emperor Claudius, 
to curry favor with the Jews, condemned James to 
death for his firm confession that Jesus Christ is 
God. The officer who led James to the judg- 
ment-seat, at sight of the courage wherewith he 
was ready to offer up his testimony, declared him- 
self also a Christian, 

As they were being hurried to execution, this man 
asked pardon of James, and the apostle kissed him, 
saying: " Peace be unto thee." James then healed a 
paralytic, and immediately afterwards both the pris- 
oners were beheaded. The body of the apostle was 
afterwards taken to Compostella (in the province 
of Gallicia in Spain), where his grave is very famous. 
Multitudes of pilgrims from all parts of the earth be- 
take themselves thither to pray out of sheer piety 
or in fulfilment of vows. The feast of James is 
kept by the Church on July 25th, which is that 
of the bringing of his body to Compostella. It w^as 
about Easter time (Acts xii. 2-4) that he bore wit- 
ness to Jesus Christ with his blood at Jerusalem, 
being the first of the apostles to do so. They point 
out in Jerusalem, in the church of the Armenians, 
the place where he was beheaded by order of 
Herod Agrippa. 

ST. BARTHOLOMEW. 

The apostle Bartholomew was a Galilean. In the 
division of i he world among the apostles, it fell to his 
lot to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Hither In- 
dia. He went thither and preached to those nations 
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the 
Gospel of St. Matthew. When he had turned many 



150 THE OTHER APOSTLES. 

in that province to Jesus Christ, and endured many 
toils and woes, he came into Greater Armenia. 

There he brought to the Christian faith Polymius, 
the king, and his wife, and likewise the inhabitants 
of twelve cities. This stirred up a great hatred 
against him among the priests of that nation. They 
so inflamed Astyages, the brother of King Poly- 
mius, against the apostle, that he savagely ordered 
Bartholomew to be flayed alive and beheaded, 
under which martyrdom he gave up his soul to 
God. His body was buried in the town of Alban- 
opolis in Greater Armenia, where he had suffered. 
It was afterwards taken to the island of Lipari, and 
thence carried to Benevento. Lastly, the emperor 
Otho III. brought it to Rome, where it was laid 
in the church dedicated to God in his name on the 
island of the Tiber. His feast is kept at Rome 
upon the 25th day of August, and is celebrated by 
great crowds of people at the church above men- 
tioned during the eight days following. 

SS. SIMON AND JUDE. 

Simon, the Canaanite, called also Zelotes, went 
through Egypt preaching the Gospel, while Thadde- 
us, called in the Gospel also Jude, the brother of 
James, and the writer of one of the catholic epistles, 
did the same in Mesopotamia. They met together 
afterwards in Persia, where they brought countless 
children to Jesus Christ, spread the faith far and 
wide in those lands, amid raging heathens, and by 
their teaching an^i miracles, and in the end by a 
glorious martyrdom, glorified the most holy name 
of Jesus. 



THE OTHER APOSTLES. I5I 

ST. MATTHIAS. 

The election of St. Matthias to the apostleship is 
related as follows in the Acts of the Apostles 
(i. 15-41): 

" In those days Peter stood up in the midst of the 
brethren, and said (The number of the men to- 
gether was about a hundred and twenty): Men and 
brethren, the Scripture must needs be fulfilled 
which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David 
spoke before concerning Judas, who was guide to 
them who took Jesus : for he was numbered with 
us and had obtained part of this ministry. Now 
this man purchased a field with the reward of in- 
iquity, and he also hanged himself, and bursting 
asunder in the midst all his bowels gushed out. 

"And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jeru- 
salem, in so much as that field is called in their 
proper tongue Haceldama, that is to say, the 
field of blood. For it is written in the Book of 
Psalms: Let his habitation be desolate, and let no 
man dwell therein, and his bishopric let another 
take. Wherefore of these men which have com- 
panied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus 
went in and out among us, beginning from the 
baptism of John, unto that same day that He was 
taken up from us, one of these must be made a 
witness with us of His resurrection, 

"And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsa- 
bas, who W3.S surnamed the Just, and Matthias. 
And they prayed* and said : Thou, Lord, Who 
knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of 
these two Thou hast chosen, that he ma}^ take 



152 THE OTHER APOSTLES. 

part of this ministry and apostleship, from which 
Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to 
his own place. And they gave forth their lots, and 
the lot fell upon Matthias, and he Avas numbered 
with the eleven apostles." 

St. Matthias, after his election, received the Holy 
Ghost on the day of Pentecost with the other 
apostles, and immediately began to preach the 
mystery of the cross. When the apostles separ- 
ated to go through the whole world, each one in 
the country allotted to him, St. Matthias was di- 
rected to preach the Gospel in Judea. He at once 
set to work with so much zeal that he converted a 
great many people, and even continued his labors 
as far as the furthermost limits of Ethiopia. The 
Jews never ceased to persecute him because he 
demonstrated to them from the Scriptures that the 
Messias had come. After preaching during thirty- 
three years he was stoned by them and the 
Gentiles. Some say that he was crucified, then 
taken down from the cross and beheaded. 

ST. JOHN. 

The following account of St. John is taken from 
the book on ecclesiastical writers written by St. 
Jerome. 

The apostle John, " whom Jesus loved," was a 
son of Zebedee, and brother of the apostle James, 
who was beheaded by Herod soon after Our Lord 
suffered. He w^as the last of the evangelists to 
write his Gospel, which he wrote at the request of 
the bishops of Asia, against Corinthus and other 
heretics, and particularly against the then spread- 



THE OTHER APOSTLES. 153 

ing- doctrine of the Ebionites, who asserted that 
Christ had had no existence before Mary. In 
the fourteenth year after Nero, Domitian stirred up 
the second persecuiion, and John was exiled to 
the island of Patmos, where he wrote his Apoca- 
lypse. When Domitian was killed, the senate an- 
nulled all his acts, on account of his savage cruelty, 
and the apostle returned to Ephesus. He re- 
mained at Ephesus until the time of Trajan, and 
founded and g-overned all the churches of Asia. 
There, at an extreme old age, he died in the sixty- 
eighth year after the Lord's passion, and was 
buried near the city, about the year loo or loi, 
or about thirty years after the destruction of Je- 
rusalem. 




Chapter XI. 

ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 
I. — ST. PETER APPOINTED HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 
[f^T^E have elsewhere written of the ardent love 
of St. Peter for Our Lord and of the many 
favors that he received from Him. We 
have also considered Peter as an apostle, and re- 
lated some of his labors in the diffusion of the 
Gospel. In this work of preaching the Gospel 
he acted as the other apostles did, teaching in 
different parts of the world, chiefly among the 
Jews, that Jesus Christ is the Messias, that He 
died for men, and that He raised Himself from 
the dead and ascended into heaven. But was St. 
Peter simply an apostle like St. John, St. Matthew, 
and tbe others, founding churches, providing 
them with bishops, but not attaching himself to 
any particular city as its pastor? 

Let us consult the Gospel, and, if necessary, 
other documents. We presume that the reader be- 
lieves Jesus Christ to be God; consequently we 
must not question the truth of His sayings or of 
His promises. 

It was a usual practice among the Jewish teach- 
ers to bestow a new name upon their disciples 
on account of some distinguished display of excel- 
lence ; it was the means occasionally used by 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 155 

the Almighty to denote an important event in the 
lives of His servants, when He rewarded them for 
past fidelity by bestowing upon them some signal 
pre-eminence. It was thus that He altered the 
names of Abraham and Sara, when He made the 
covenant of circumcision with the former, prom- 
ised to the latter a son in her old age, and blessed 
both, that from them might spring nations and 
kings of people. (Gen. xvii.) It was thus that 
Jacob received from Him the name of Israel, when, 
after wrestling with an angel, assurance was given 
him that he should ever be able to prevail against 
men. (Gen. xxxii.) 

It is remarkable that the very moment Simon 
was introduced to Our Blessed Redeemer he re- 
ceived the promise that a similar distinction should 
be given to him: ^^Thou art Simon the son of Jona ; 
thou shalt be called Cephas, zvhich is interpreted Peter T 
(John i. 42.) 

We consider it most probable that from this day, 
Simon, son of Jona, was known to many by the 
name of Peter, for St. Mark(iii.) after relating the 
selection of the twelve apostles, writes, ''and to 
Simon He gave t lie surname Peter;'' and another evan- 
gelist, also in connection with the choice of the 
apostles, places at the head of the list ''Simon, 
whom He surnamcd Peter'' 

It was later on, when Simon, son of Jona, con- 
fessed the divine mission of Jesus Christ, that the 
promise, tJiou shalt be called Cephas or rock, was 
solemnly fulfilled, as we read in the following pas- 
sage of St. Matthew. 

"And Jesus came into the quarters of Cesarea 



156 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

Fhilippi, and He asked His disciples, saying : Who 
do men say that the Son of man is ? But they 
said : Some, John the Baptist, and other some 
Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 
Jesus saith to them : But who do you say that I 
am ? Simon Peter answered and said : Thou art 
Christ the Son of the living God. And Jesus an- 
swering, said to him : Blessed art thou, Simon 
Bar-Jona : because flesh and blood hath not re- 
vealed it to thee, but My Father Who is in heaven. 
And I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and upon 
this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give 
to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And 
whatsoever thou shaft bind upon earth, it shall be 
bound also in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt 
loose on earth it shall be loosed also in heaven." 
(Matt. xvi. 13-19.) 

When Jesus Christ pronounced the preceding 
words, the Church had not yet been founded, but 
the visible rock on which it was to be built had been 
selected, so that when the Saviour, the founder and 
corner-stone of the building, should go up to 
heaven from earth, all might know that there was 
one divinely appointed who would support and 
connect the whole edifice, for Our Saviour was 
not the foolish man who built his house on sand, 
but the wise man who built his house upon a 
rock: "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it 
fell not, for it was founded on a rock." (Matt. vii. 

25.) 

That Christ had given Simon the surname Peter 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 157 

was well known to the other apostles; for instance, 
St. Matthew, who relates the fact in the sixteenth 
chapter of his Gospel, from that time invariably 
calls him Peter, and not Simon. 

The last part of the promise of Jesus Christ to 
St. Peter after his confession was : '''And I will give 
to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and what- 
soever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound also in 
heaven, and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall 
be loosed also in heaven'' 

In ancient times, and particularly among the He- 
brew people, keys were an emblem of jurisdiction. 
To affirm that a man had received the keys of a city 
was equivalent to the assertion that he had been 
appointed its governor. In the Book of Revelations 
Our Saviour says that He hath " the keys of death 
and of hell," which means that He is endowed with 
power over death and hell. In fact, even to this 
day does not the presentation of keys convey 
among ourselves the idea of authority ? If the 
proprietor of a house, on leaving it for the summer, 
says to any friend, " Here are the keys of my house," 
would not this simple declaration, without a word of 
explanation, convey the idea, '' I give you full con- 
trol of my house ; you may admit or exclude whom 
you please ; )^ou represent me in my absence " ? Let 
us now apply this interpretation to Our Redeemer's 
words, when He says to Peter, " I will give to thee 
thekeysof the kingdom of heaven," and He evident- 
ly means : I will give thee supreme authority over 
My Church, which is the citadel of faith. My earthly 
Jerusalem. Thou and thy successors shall be My 
visible representatives to the end of time. 



158 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. , 

Let the reader remember that to Peter alone, 
and to no other apostle, were these solemn promises 
addressed. 

As time went on, they became more certain to 
the other apostles, for the Lord renewed them, as 
it were, in different ways in their presence. Of this 
we have an instance related in the seventeenth chap- 
ter of St. Matthew, when Jesus Christ directs St. 
Peter to pay the tax-gatherers the shekel found in 
the mouth of the fish, and to give it to them ior Me 
and thee. This was a great honor bestowed by the 
Master upon His first apostle. 

On the eve of His death, when the day of unleav- 
ened bread had come, " He sent Peter and John, 
saying : Go and prepare for us the Passover, that we 
may eat." (Luke xxii. 8.) It was not without a grave 
motive that the Lord directed Peter to prepare the 
feast, for it was at the end of the supper which fol- 
lowed the eating of the paschal lamb that He insti- 
tuted the sacrifice of the new law, and to Peter 
and his successors to the end of time was to belong 
the duty to have it offered from the rising of the 
sun to the going down thereof, as the great act of 
worship instituted by the Lord. 

During this last supper it was that Jesus Christ 
addressed our apostle in this manner : "Simon, 
Simon, behold Satan hath desired to sift you as 
wheat, but I have praj^ed for thee, that thy faith 
fail not, and thou being once converted, confirm 
thy brethren." (Luke xxii. 31.) 

By these words the Lord reminded His apostles 
of the promise made to Peter : " Thou art a rock, 
and upon this rock I will build My Church ; to 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 159 

thee will Igive the keys of the kingdom of heaven." 
And yet at the same time He predicted to Peter 
that he would deny Him. Notwithstanding this 
prevision which afflicted His divine heart, He 
gave His disciple a new mark of His predilection 
by revealing to him who it was that would betray 
Him. It is known that Peter did really deny his 
Master during the night which preceded His death. 
We know also how Peter repented when Jesus 
Christ looked on him, and history relates of him 
that during his life he ever continued to bewail his 
crime. 

In connection with this matter of the fall of Peter, 
shortly after his Master had prayed for him that his 
faith would not fail, we remember with shame and 
indignation the remark made to us by a dignitary of 
the so-called Episcopal Church. It was at a time 
when there was question of a council or synod, 
and we remarked to him what a blessing it was 
to know where to find the head appointed by Christ 
to govern the Church, to convoke councils, to pre- 
side over and confirm them. Having quoted to 
him the words, " I have prayed for thee, that thy 
faith fail not." he replied : And yet Peter failed 
shortly after by denying his Master. This was as 
much as to sa}^ that the Son of God, Our Saviour, 
had not fulfilled His promise. 

To this clergyman of the Episcopal Church we 
replied : " But, sir, the sin of St. Peter was not 
against faith, but a sin of weakness. Peter was not 
at that time the head of the Church, since the Lord 
was yet on earth. He (Peter) had not received the 
privilege of impeccability, or exemption from sin, 



l6o ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

but the promise of divine assistance against error 
when teaching the whole Church. 'And thou being 
once converted, confirm thy brethren.' " 

We have not yet come to the da}^ on which the 
Saviour fulfilled all His promises to Simon Peter, 
and installed him, as it were, in his office, and still we 
continue to see in the Gospel that he was the chosen 
apostle, pre-eminent among all the others. Jesus 
Christ had Peter, with two others, as the principal 
witness of His agony in the garden, and when He 
has raised Himself from the dead, an angel in the 
form of a young man, clothed in a white robe, 
appears to Mary Magdalen and the other women 
and says to them : " Go, and tell His disciples 
and PeUr thcit He goes before you into Galilee." 
(Mark xvi. 7.) Mary Magdalen '* ran therefore, and 
cometh to Simon Peter." (John xx. 2.) When the 
two disciples returned from Emmaus, "they found 
the eleven, and those who were with them, gathered 
together saying, The Lord is certainly risen, and 
hath appeared to Simon.'' (Luke xxiv. 33, 34.) 
That Jesus Christ appeared other times to 
Peter before His ascension is clear from the Acts 
of the Apostles, for He showed Himself alive 
after His passion, by many proofs, for forty days 
appearing to them, and speaking of the kingdom of 
God. (i. 3.) These were the apostles whom He 
had chosen, (i. 2.) Peter was one, nay the first 
of them ; and the instructions concerning the king- 
dom of God or the governing of the Church on 
earth must have been given to Peter in an especial 
manner. The most solemn apparition of Jesus 
Christ was that related in the last chapter of St 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. l6l 

Matthew, when the eleven disciples went into 
Galilee unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed 
them. This was the solemn occasion mentioned 
by St. Paul when more than five hundred disci- 
ples met tog-ether. " And Jesus came and spake 
to them, saying: All power is given to Me in heaven and 
on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations; baptiz- 
ing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost, teacJiing them to observe all tilings 
whatever I have commanded you: and behold I am with 
you all days unto the end of the zvorld,'' Not to the 
five hundred disciples who met on that day on the 
mountain did the Saviour say, " Go ye therefore," 
but to the eleven, of whom St. Peter was certainly 
one; but as well as we can conjecture the Lord de- 
sired the disciples, many of whom were Galileans, 
to see and to know their apostles, and principally 
their leader Peter, to whom He gives a pledge of 
perpetual assistance in their teaching and ministra- 
tions. 

From the summit of that mountain in a south- 
erly direction lay the mountain of Olives, from 
which Our Saviour was in a few days to ascend to 
heaven. But before bidding adieu to His kingdom 
on earth, which He had founded, He willed to make 
it perfect. 

The apostles remained not together the whole 
time after the ascension of their Master, but re- 
turned sometimes to their homes and former oc- 
cupations, as occasion required. 

On one of these occasions Our Lord appeared 
to Peter and some other disciples, and fulfilled all 
His former promises to His chosen apostle, consti- 



l62 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

tuting him in a most emphatic manner shepherd 
of all His flock, guide and ruler of the faithful. 
Pray, dear reader, peruse with respectful attention 
the following, one of the most beautiful and most 
important passages of the Gospel: 

** After this Jesus manifested Himself again to the 
disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And He showed 
Himself after this manner. There were together 
Simon Peter, and Thomas who is called Didymus, 
and Nathanael who was of Cana in Galilee, and 
the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disci- 
ples. Simon Peter saith to them : I go a-fishing. 
They say to him : We also come with thee. And 
they went forth and entered into the ship: and 
that night they caught nothing. But when the 
morning was come, Jesus slood on the shore: yet 
the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus 
therefore said to them: Children, have you any 
meat? They answered Him: No. He saith to 
them : Cast the net on the right side of the ship: 
and you shall find. They cast therefore: and now 
they were not able to draw it for the multitude 
of fishes. That disciple therefore whom Jesus 
loved said to Peter: It is the Lord. Simon Peter, 
when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat 
about him (for he was naked) and cast himself into 
the sea. But the other disciples came in the ship 
(for they were not far from the land, but as it were 
two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fishes. 

''As soon then as they came to land, thej^ saw 
hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. 
Jesus saith to them: Bring hither of the fishes 
which you haye now caught. Simon Peter went 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 163 

Up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, 
one hundred fifty-three. And although there were 
so many, the net was not broken. Jesus saith to 
them: Come, and dine. And none of them who 
were at meat durst ask Him : Who art thou ? know- 
ing that it was the Lord. And Jesus cometh and 
taketh bread and giveth them, and fish in like 
manner. This is now the third time that Jesus was 
manifested to His disciples after He was risen from 
the dead. 

" When therefore they had dined, Jesus saith to 
Simon Peter: Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me 
more than these? He saith to Him: Yea, Lord, Thou 
knowest that I love Thee. He saith to him : Feed 
My lambs. He saith to him again: Simon, son of 
John, lovest thou Me? He saith to Him : Yea, Lord, 
Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith to him : 
Feed My lambs. He said to him the third time : 
Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me? Peter was 
grieved, because He had said to him the third time, 
Lovest thou Me? And he said to Him : Lord, Thou 
knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee. 
He said to him: Feed My sheep." (John xxi.) 

By those words the whole sheepfold is confided 
to St. Peter without any exception or limitation. 
Peter has jurisdiction not only over the lambs, the 
weak and tender portion of the fiock, by which are 
understood the faithful, but also over the sheep, i. e., 
the pastors themselves. To Peter the entire fold 
was confined ; for never ^\d Jesus say to any other 
apostle what He said to Peter: Feed My whole 
flock. Let us not forget that this was the last 
public apparition of Jesus Christ after His resur- 



164 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

rection, that perhaps the next day He, the Good 
Shepherd, was to separate forever from His dear 
flock, at least in a visible manner. How consoling- 
then for His disciples to know that they had one 
divinely appointed over them, whose voice would 
be that of the Master Himself. 

11. — ST. PETER ACTS AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

In the first section of this chapter we have seen 
ihe promises of the Saviour to Peter, and how He 
realized them on the shore of Lake Tiberias, 
by commanding him to feed the lambs and the 
sheep, that is to say, the whole sheepfold. We 
shall now see the great apostle in the exercise of 
his sublime office. 

It was immediately after the ascension of Jesus 
Christ into heaven that Peter began to act as His 
vicar, showing that he had inherited the love of 
his Master for His flock, and that he was mindful 
of His command. We transcribe from the Acts the 
history of this remarkable event r " Then they 
[r he disciples] returned to Jerusalem from the mount 
called Olivet. . . . And when they had entered in, 
they went up into an upper room where abode 
Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and 
Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, son 
of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes,andJude, brother of 
James. All these were persevering with one 
mind in prayer with women, and Mary the mother 
of Jesus and His brethren. In those days Peter 
rising up in the midst of the brethren said (now 
the number of persons together was about a hun- 
dred and twenty): Brethren, the Scripture must be 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 165 

fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke before by 
the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was 
the leader of those who seized Jesus : who was 
numbered amongst us, and obtained the lot of this 
ministry, and he indeed got a field with the reward 
of iniquity, and being hanged, he burst asunder 
in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And 
it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusa- 
lem, so that the field was called in their tongue 
Haceldama, that is, field of blood. For it is written 
in the book of Psalms: Lettheir habitation become 
desolate, and let there be no one to dwell therein, 
and let another take his bishopric. Wherefore of 
these men who have been with us all the time that 
the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, 
beginning from the baptism of John until the day 
wherein He was taken up from us, one of these 
must be made a witness with us of His resurrection. 
And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, 
who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And 
they prayed and said: Thou, Lord, Who knowest 
the hearts of all, show which of these two Thou 
hast chosen to take the place of this ministry and 
apostleship, from which Judas by transgression 
fell, that he might go to his own place. And they 
gave their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and 
he was numbered with the eleven apostles." (Acts i. 
12-26.) 

In the midst of that assembly of one hundred dis- 
ciples, among whom were the mother of the Sav- 
iour and the apostles chosen by Him, Peter is the 
first to raise his voice, for he was conscious of his 
office, and knowing that the first duty of a pastor 



l66 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. , 

is to provide his sheep with a sufficient number of 
guardians, he directs that an election must be made 
to provide a successor to Judas. All agree to his 
order, and Matthias is numbered with the eleven 
apostles. " Peter, feed My lambs, feed My sJieepy 

From the day of the ascension of Jesus Christ in- 
to heaven, Simon, son of Jona, seems to have lost 
his name, and the sacred writers henceforth invari- 
ably call him Cephas, or Peter. (See the whole of 
the Acts of the Apostles.) 

Ten days after the ascension the apostles and 
disciples were still in the upper room on Mount 
Sion. This day was the Pentecost of the Jews, 
and the day on which the Saviour had resolved to 
send to His disciples the Holy Spirit Whom He had 
promised. In reading the relation of this event 
we shall have occasion to remark that Peter con- 
tinues to act as the head of the apostoUc body. 

" And when the days of Pentecost were complet- 
ed, they were all together in one place. x\nd sud- 
denly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rush- 
ing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where 
they were sitting. And there appeared to them 
parted tongues as of fire, and it sat upon every one 
of them. And they were all filled with the Holy 
Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as 
the Holy Spirit gave them to speak. Now there 
were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out 
of every nation under heaven. And when the 
voice was spread, the multitude came together, 
and were confounded in mind, because every man 
heard them speak in his own tongue. And they 
were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 167 

are not all these who speak Galileans ? And how 
hear we every man our own tongue wherein we 
were born? Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, 
and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and 
Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pam- 
philia, Egypt and the parts of Lybia about Cyrene, 
and strangers of Rome, Jews also and proselytes, 
Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speak in our 
tongues the great works of God ; and they were 
all astonished, and wondered, saying one to an- 
other : What meaneth this ? But others mocking 
said : These men are full of sweet wine." (Acts ii. 

1-13.) 

The place where this great gathering occurred 
was on the celebrated Mount Sion ; the men who 
composed it were not from Jerusalem only, but from 
almost every part of the then known world where 
children of Israel had emigrated. During their 
stay in the city the}^ had heard about the miracles 
of Christ, visited Mount Olivet, whence He went 
up to heaven, and Calvary, with the empty grave 
and its riven rocks. We may figure to ourselves 
how they wondered when they heard the great 
sound from heaven, when they saw the parted 
tongues as of lire, when they heard the apostles, 
who were all Galileans, speaking every one their 
own tongue ! But here is another source of sur- 
prise, of bewilderment Peter, the timid disciple 
who a few days before had denied his Master; Peter, 
the ignorant fisherman of Bethsaida, stands up before 
the anxious assembly, reminds them of the words of 
their prophets, and applies them to Jesus Christ, to 
His life, passion, and resurrection. " Ye men of Is- 



l68 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

rael, hear these words : Jesus of Nazareth, a man 
approved of God among you by miracles and 
wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the 
midst of you as j^ou also know, Him . . . you have 
crucified and slain by the hands of wicked men. Him 
God hath raised up. . . . This Jesus hath God 
raised up whereof we all are witnesses. . . . Now 
when they heard these things they felt compunction 
in their hearts, and said to Peter and to the rest of 
the apostles : What shall we do, men brethren ? 
Then Peter said to them: Repent, and let every 
one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ 
for the remission of your sins, and you shall re- 
ceive the gift of the Holy Spirit. . . . They there- 
fore who received his word were baptized, and 
about three thousand souls were added in that 
day." Does it not clearly follow from the Gospel 
account that the action of St. Peter, the learning 
which he displayed, the compunction of his hearers, 
and their conversion, were a consequence of the 
divine commission and assistance : " Feed My lambsy 
feed My sheep; I have prayed for thee ' ' ? 

The following relation of the cure of a man who 
had been lame from his birth is one of the most 
beautiful passages of the Acts of the Apostles : 

" Now Peter and John went up into the temple, 
at the ninth hour of prayer. 

'' And a certain man who was lame from his moth- 
er's womb was being carried, whom they laid every 
day at the gate of the temple which is called Beau- 
tiful, that he might ask alms of them that went into 
the temple. He, when he had seen Peter and John 
about to go into the temple, asked to receive an alms. 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 169 

But Peter with John fastening his eyes upon him 
said : Look upon us. But he looked earnestly upon 
them, hoping that he should receive something of 
them. And Peter said: Silver and gold I have none: 
but what 1 have I give thee : In the name of Jesus 
Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk. And taking 
him by the right hand, he lifted him up, and forth- 
with his feet and soles received strength. And he 
leaping up stood, and walked, and went in with 
them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and 
praising God. 

" And all the people saw him walking and prais- 
ing God. And they knew him, that it was he who 
sat begging alms at the beautiful gate of the tem- 
ple : and they were filled with wonder and amaze- 
ment at that which had happened to him. And as 
he held Peter and John, all the people ran to them 
to the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly 
wondering. 

■' But Peter seeing, made answer to the people : 
Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why 
look ye on us as though by our own power or 
holiness we had mnde this man to walk? The God 
of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His 
Son Jesus, Whom ye indeed delivered up and de- 
nied before the face of Pilate, when he judged that 
He should be released. But ye denied the Holy 
One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be 
granted unto you. And the Author of life ye killed, 
Whom God hath raised from the dead, of which we 
are witnesses. And in the faith of His name this 
man. Whom ye have seen and know, hath His name 



T70 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

Strengthened ; and the faith which is by him hath 
given this perfect soundness in the sight of 3'ou 
all. 

" And now, brethren, I know that ye did it through 
ignorance, as also your rulers. But those things 
which God before had showed by the mouth of all 
the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, H e has so 
fulhlled. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out. . . . Andasthe3Mvere 
speaking to the people, the priests and the officer 
of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 
being grieved that they taught the people, and 
preached in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 
And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold 
until the next day, for it was now evening. But 
many of those who had heard the word believed : 
and the number of the men was five thousand. 

"And it came to pass on the morrow that their 
princes, and ancients, and scribes were gathered 
together in Jerusalem ; and Annas the high-priest, 
and Caiphas. and John, and Alexander, and as many 
as were of the kindred of the high-priest And 
setting them in the midst, they asked: By what 
power, or by what name have you done this? 

" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to 
them : Ye princes of the people and ancients, hear: 
If we this day are examined concerning the good 
deed done to the infirm man, by what means he 
hath been made whole, be it known to you all, 
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name 
of Our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you 
crucified. Whom God hath raised from the dead, 
even by Him this man standeth here before you 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. I'Jl 

whole. This is the stone which was rejected by 
you, the builders: which is become the head of 
the corner : Neither is there salvation in any 
other. For there is no other name under heaven 
given to men whereby we must be saved. 

" Now seeing the constancy of Peter and of John, 
understanding that they were illiterate and ignor- 
ant men, they wondered, and they knew them that 
they had been with Jesus: seeing the man also 
who had been healed standing with them, they 
could say nothing against it. But they com- 
manded them to go aside out of the council: and 
they conferred among themselves, saying: What 
shall we do to these men? for indeed a known 
miracle hath been done by them ; it is manifest to 
all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot 
deny it. But that it may be no farther spread 
among the people, let us threaten them, that they 
speak no more in this name to any man. And 
calling them, they charged them not to speak at 
all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. 

" But Peter and John answering, said to them : 
If it be just in the sight of God to hear j^ou rather 
than God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak 
the things which we have seen and heard. 

" But they threatened and sent them away, not 
finding how they might punish them, because of 
the people ; for all men glorified what had been 
done, in that which had come to pass. For the 
man was above forty years old in whom that mi- 
raculous cure had been wrought. 

" And being let go they came to their own com- 
pany, and related all that the chief priests and el- 



172 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

ders had said to them. And they, when they had 
heard it, with one accord lifted up their voice to 
God, and said : Lord, Thou art He Who hast made 
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that is in 
them. Who by the mouth of Thy servant David 
hast said : W/ij/ have the heathen raged, and the people 
devised vain things ? The kings of the earth stood up, 
and the rulers assembled together against the Lord, 
and against His Christ. For of a truth there as- 
sembled together in this city against Thy holy Son 
Jesus,Whom Thou hast anointed, Herod and Pon- 
tius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of 
Israel, to do what Thy hand and Thy counsel de- 
creed to be done. And now, Lord, behold their 
threatenings,andgrantuntoThy servants that with 
all confidence they may speak Thy word, by 
stretching forth Thy hand to cures, and signs, and 
wonders to be done by the name of Thy holy Son 
Jesus. 

" And when they had prayed, the place was 
moved wherein they were assembled : and they 
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake 
the word of God with confidence. 

"And the multitude of believers had but one 
heart and one soul : neither did any one say that 
aught of the things which he possessed was his 
own, but all things were common unto them. 
And with great power did the apostles give tes- 
timony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Our 
Lord : and great grace was in them all. For neither 
was there any one needy among them. For as 
many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, 
and brought the price of the things they sold, and 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. I 73 

laid it down before the feet of the apostles. And 
distribution was made to every one according as 
he had need." (Acts iii., iv.) 

Let the reader notice that it was Peter who 
wrought this first miracle, the cure of the man 
lame from his birth ; that Peter instructed the 
beholders that this was done by faith in Christ, 
Whom he shows to be the Messias ; that at the 
voice of Peter five thousand persons were con- 
verted ; that Peter boldly declares before the 
sanhedrim that God is to be obeyed rather than 
man ; that Peter was considered as the head of one 
body of Christians who had but one heart and 
one soul. 

The following extract from the Acts will continue 
to show us St. Peter in the exercise of his office, 
and the wonderful power which Christ had grant- 
ed to him. 

*^ But a certain man named Ananias, with Sa- 
phira his wife, sold a piece of land, and defrauded 
of the price of the land, his wife being privy 
thereto, and brought a certain portion and laid it 
at the feet of the apostles. 

" But Peter said: Ananias, why has Satan tempted 
thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Hol}^ Ghost, 
and by fraud keep part of the price of the land ? 
Whilst it remained, did it not remain to thee? and 
after it was sold, was it not in thy power? Why 
hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou 
hast not lied to men, but to God. And Ananias 
hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the 
ghost. And there came great fear upon all that 
heard it. And the young men rising up, removed 



174 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

hi in, and carrying him out, buried him. And it 
was about the space of three hours after, when 
his wife, not knowing what had happened, came 
in. And Peter said to her: Tell me, woman, 
whether yow sold the land for so much? And 
she said : Yea, for so much. And Peter said unto 
her: Why have you agreed together to tempt the 
Spirit of the Lord ? Behold the feet of them who 
have buried thy husband are at the door, and they 
shall carry thee out. Immediately she fell dowm 
before his feet, and gave up the ghost. And the 
young men coming in, found her dead, and car- 
ried her out, and buried her by her husband. 
And there came great fear upon the whole church, 
and upon all that heard these things. And by the 
hands of the apostles were many signs and won- 
ders wrought among the people. And they were 
all with one accord in Solomon's porch. But of 
the rest no man durst join himself unto them ; but 
the people magnified them. And the multitude 
of men and women who believed in the Lord 
was more increased : insomuch that they brought 
forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on 
beds and couches, that when Peter came his 
shadow at the least might overshadow any of 
them, and they might be delivered from their in- 
firmities. And there came also together to Jeru- 
salem a multitude out of the neighboring cities, 
bringing sick persons, and such as were troub- 
led with unclean spirits, who were all healed." 
(Acts v.) 

The apostles had been commanded by their 
Master not to go at once among the Gentiles, but 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. I 75 

to remain some years in Jerusalem, and to preach 
the Gospel first of all to the children of Israel. 
From Jerusalem they used to labor among the 
Jews in Judea, and many were the localities where 
souls were brought to the faith through their la- 
bors. Piter as head of the Church passed through 
all quarters, visiting all. During that visitation he 
cured at Lydda a man named Eneas, who had 
kept his bed for eight years, and was sick of the 
palsy. Not by his own power or skill did Peter 
heal Eneas, but by the power of Him Who had 
sent him to govern the Church. " x\nd Peter said 
to him, Eneas, the Lord Jesus Christ healeth thee ; 
arise, and take thy bed. And immediately he 
arose." A still greater miracle Peter performed 
in Joppe. In this city there was a disciple named 
Tabitha. . . . This woman " was full of good works 
and alms-deeds which she did, and it happened 
in those days that she was sick and died. The 
disciples hearing that Peter was at Lydda, sent to 
him two men asking, Delay not to come as far as 
us. And Peter rising up went with them. And 
when he was come, they brought him into the up- 
per chamber: and all the widows stood about him 
weeping, and showing him the coats and garments 
which Dorcas made them. And they all being put 
forth, Peter kneeling down pra^'ed, and turning to 
the body he said : Tabitha, arise. And she opened 
her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. And giv- 
ing her his hand, he lifted her up. And when he 
had called the saints and the widows, he presented 
her alive. And it w^as made known throughout 
all Joppe; and many believed in the Lord. And 



176 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

it came to pass that he abode man}^ days in Joppe, 
with one Simon a tanner." (Acts ix. 38-43.) 

The time had now come when the Gentiles were 
to be taught regarding the life, death, and resur- 
rection of the Messias, but the Jews, and among 
these many of the disciples, were of the opinion 
that to them alone the Gospel was to be preached, 
nay, that it was unlawful for a child of x\braham 
to join or approach one of another nation. But 
whilst Peter was in Joppe in the house of Simon 
the tanner, he had a vision f : om heaven whereby 
he was tausfht that the time had come in which to 
labor for the conversion of the Gentiles themselves. 
Accordinor to this heavenlv instruction he went to 
Cesarea and baptized a noble centurion and his 
household. But when he came back to Jerusa- 
lem, " those who were of the circumcision con- 
tended with him, sa3'ing: Why didst thou go in- 
to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them? 

" But Peter began and declared to them the mat- 
ter in order, sa3ing : I was in the city of Joppe 
pra3nng, and I saw in an ecstasy of mind a vision, 
a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet 
let down from heaven by four corners, and it came 
even unto me. Into which when I looked I con- 
sidered and saw four-footed creatures of the earth, 
and beasts, and creeping things, and fow^ls of the 
air. And I heard also a voice saying to me, Arise, 
Peter ; kill and eat. And I said. Not so. Lord ; 
for nothing common or unclean hath ever entered 
into mv mouth. And the voice answered again 
from heaven: What God hath made clean, do not 
thou call common. And this was done three times : 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 177 

and all were taken up again into heaven. And 
behold, immediately there were three men come 
to the house wherein I was, sent to me from Cesa- 
rea. And the Spirit said to me that I should go 
with them, nothing doubting. And these six 
brethren went with me also ; and we entered into 
the man*s house. And he told us how he had seen 
an angel in his house standing, and saying to him: 
Send to Joppe, and call hither Simon, who is sur- 
named Peter ^ who shall speak to thee words where- 
by thou shalt be saved, and all thy house. And 
when I had begun to speak, the Holy Ghost fell 
upon them, as upon us also in the beginning. And 
I remembered the word of the Lord, how that He 
said : John indeed baptized with water ^ but you shall 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost, If then God gave 
them the same grace as to us also who have be- 
lieved in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that 
could withstand God ? Having heard these things, 
they held their peace, and glorified God, saying : 
God then hath also to the Gentiles given repentance 
unto life." 

After establishing his see at Antioch, and 
preaching the Gospel throughout Pontus, Gala- 
tia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethynia, and before 
going to Rome, Peter went back to Jerusalem. 
On this occasion it was that he was cast into pris- 
on by King Herod, and miraculously delivered by 
an angel. 

** And at the same time Herod the king stretched 
forth his hands to afflict some of the Church. And 
he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 
And seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded 



178 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

to lake up Peter also. Now it was in the days of 
the azymes. And when he had apprehended him, 
he cast him into prison, delivering him to four files 
of soldiers to be kept, intending after the Pasch to 
bring him forth to the people. 

" Peter therefore was kept in prison. But prayer was 
made without ceasing by the Church unto God for him. 
And when Herod would have brought him forth, 
the same night Peter was sleeping between two 
soldiers, bound with two chains : and the keepers 
before the door kept the prison. And behold an 
Angel of the Lord stood by him : and alight shined 
in the room : and he striking Peter on the side 
raised him up, saying: Arise quickly. And the 
chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said 
to him : Gird thyself, and put on thy sandals. And 
he did so. And he said to him. Cast thy gar- 
ment about thee, and follow me. And going out 
he followed him, and he knew not that it was true 
which was done by the angel, but thought he 
saw a vision. And passing through the first and 
second ward, they came to the iron gate that lead- 
eth to the city : which of itself opened to them. 
And going out, they passed on through one street : 
and immediately the angel departed from him. 
And Peter coming to himself said: now I know 
truly that the Lord hath sent His angel, and deliv- 
ered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the 
expectation of the people of the Jews. 

'* And considering, he came to the house of 
Mary the mother of John who was surnamed Mark, 
where many were gathered together, and were 
praying. And when he knocked at the door of the 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 179 

gate, a damsel came to hearken, >'iose name was 
Rhode. And as soon as she kne h Peter's voice, 
she opened not the gate for joy, buc running in she 
told that Peter stood before the gate. But they 
said to her: Thou art mad. But she affirmed that 
it was so. Then said they, it is his angel. But 
Peter continued knocking. And when they had 
opened, they saw him and were astonished. But 
he beckoning to them with his hand to hold their 
peace, told how the Lord had brought him out of 
prison, and he said, Tell these things to James and 
to the brethren. And he departed, and went into 
another place." (Acts xii.) 

The prayer offered for Peter by the Church dur- 
ing his imprisonment was intense, fervent, and 
constant, as his death would have caused her 
great injury, and the faithful considered him her 
chief member, her head under Christ. 

It was probably after this event that Peter, de- 
parting from Jerusalem, went to Rome; but, seven 
years after his arrival in that city, the emperor 
Claudius banished from it all the Jews, and with 
the Jews he also banished the Christians, for these 
were considered a Jewish sect. Peter was on that 
account obliged to leave Rome, and after visiting 
and preaching the Gospel in many countries he 
revisited Jerusalem. His arrival in that city was 
very providential, as will appear from the follow- 
ing passage of the Acts. 

** Whilst Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch, 
some coming down from Judea taught the breth- 
ren: That except you be circumcised after the 
manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. And 



l8o ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

when Paul and Barnabas had no small contest 
with them, the ^determined that Paul and Barna- 
bas, and certair. others of the other side, should go 
up to the apostles and priests to Jerusalem, about 
this question. They therefore being brought on 
their way by the church, passed through Phenice 
and Samaria, relating the conversion of the Gen- 
tiles: and they caused great joy to all the breth- 
ren. And when they were come to Jerusalem 
they were received by the church and by the 
apostles and ancients, declaring how great things 
God had done with them. But there arose some 
of the sect of the Pharisees that believed, saying: 
They must be circumcised, and be commanded 
to observe the law of Moses. And the apostles 
and ancients assembled to consider of this matter. 
And when there had been much disputing, Peter 
rising up said to them : Men brethren, you know 
that in former days God made choice among us, 
that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the 
word of the Gospel, and believe. 

" And God Who knoweth the hearts gave testi- 
mony, giving unto them the Holy Ghost as well 
as to us, and put no difference between us and 
them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now there- 
fore why tempt you God, to put a yoke upon the 
necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers 
nor we have been able to bear ? But by the grace 
of the Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved 
in like manner as they also. And all the multi- 
tude held their peace : and they heard Barnabas 
and Paul telling what great signs and wonders 
God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. l8l 

"And after they had held their peace James an- 
swered, saying: Men brethren, hear me. Simon 
hath related how God first visited to take of the 
Gentiles a people to His name. And to this agree 
the words of the prophets as it is written: After 
these things I will return, and will rebuild the 
tabernacle of David, which is fallen down : and the 
ruins thereof I will rebuild, and I will set it up: 
that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, 
and all nations upon whom My name is invoked, 
saith the Lord Who doth these things. To the 
Lord was His own work known from the begin- 
ning of the world. For which cause I judge that 
they who from among the Gentiles are converted 
to God are not to be disquieted, but that we 
write unto them that they refrain themselves from 
the pollutions of idols, and fornication, and from 
things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of 
old time hath in every city them that preach Him 
in the synagogues, where He is read every sabbath. 
Then it pleased the apostles and ancients with 
the whole church to choose men of their own 
company, and to send to Antioch with Paul and 
Barnabas, namely, Judas, who was surnamed Bar- 
sabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren, 
writing by their hands: The apostles and an- 
cients brethren, to the brethren of the Gentiles 
that are at Antioch and in Syria and Cilicia, greet- 
ing. Forasmuch as we have heard that some go- 
ing out from us have troubled you with words, 
subverting your souls, to whom we gave no com- 
mandment : It hath seemed good to us, being 
assembled together, to choose out men, and to 



l82 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH, 

send them unto you with our well beloved Bar- 
nabas and Paul, men that have given their lives 
for the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We 
have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who them- 
selves also will by word of mouth tell you the 
same things. For it hath seemed good to the 
Holy Ghost and to us to lay no farther burden 
upon you than these necessary things: That you 
abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from 
blood, and from things strangled, and from forni- 
cation; from which things keeping yourselves, 
you shall do well. Fare ye well. They therefore 
being dismissed went down to Antioch: and 
gathering together the multitude, delivered the 
epistle, which when they had read, they rejoiced 
for the consolation. But Judas and Silas, being 
prophets also themselves, with many words com- 
forted the brethren, and confirmed them." (Acts 
XV. 1-32.) 

The dissensions among the Jewish converts re- 
garding circumcision and other prescriptions of the 
law of Moses had existed a long time before the coun- 
cil of Jerusalem ; but when it was known that Peter 
had come to Jerusalem, the brethren of Antioch 
sent Paul and Barnabas to the apostles about this 
matter. Let the reader notice that Paul was the 
chief envoy to Peter and the apostles, but there 
were none of the other apostles at Jerusalem at 
that time save James and John. 

This was not a general council or assembly of 
all the apostles : Peter, however, was the first to 
rise after there had been much disputing, and 
Avhen he began to speak, all the multitude held 



ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. J83 

their peace whilst he explained why the Gentiles 
should not be subject to circumcision and other 
practices of the Jews; after he had spoken, his ad- 
vice was concurred in by St. James ; the decision 
was carried to the disciples of Antioch, and the 
members of the council were so convinced that 
the Holy Ghost had guided their work under the 
presidency of Peter, that they end their letter 
by saying: " It hath seemed good to the Holy 
Ghost and to us.** As there are some enemies of 
the Church who pretend that St. Paul was adverse 
to St. Peter,it might be well to notice that Pauland 
Barnabas are mentioned as the beloved Qi\.\iQ mem- 
bers of the council, and that a most important mis- 
sion was entrusted to them. 

Peter and Paul were both ministers of Jesus 
Christ; they had one and the same faith; they 
taught a common doctrine (GaL il 22), but Paul 
was in an especial manner the apostle of the Gen* 
tiles, and Peter the apostle of the Jews, being at 
the same time the head of the Church. They la- 
bored most of the time in different countries far 
apart, and whilst St Paul was living in Rome dur- 
ing his first captivity, Peter must have been absent 
from the city. A time was to come, however, when 
they were both to teach the Gospel in the city ot 
the Cassars. 

The preceding account of their labors has been 
taken from the New Testament, considered as an 
historical work without regard to its inspiration. 
For the account of their labors and martyrdom in 
Rome we must consult ecclesiastical history. Yet 
from what has been quoted, the candid reader will 



184 ST. PETER HEAD OF THE CHURCH. 

acknowledge that Peter was really appointed by 
Jesus Christ His vice-gerent on earth, and that he 
did govern the Church, and was considered by 
her as her supreme infallible head. 



Chapter XII. 

PETER AND PAUL IN ROME. 

^N the tenth year of the reign of Nero Rome was 
jlf set on fire by that tyrant. To free himself 
from the charge of being the author of that 
conflagration, and turn elsewhere the menacing 
rage of the people, he threw the blame on the Chris- 
tians, and under that pretext many of them were 
made to suffer imprisonment and death. 

The following year the monster enacted the first 
sanguinary edict against the disciples of Christ, 
and this edict was kept in full vigor for the re- 
mainder of his life. 

In the twelfth year of Nero St. Peter, who had 
absented himself for a time, came back to Rome, 
and Paul, his most dear brother (2 Pet. xxxi.), came 
also to help him revive the Church, which was 
being cruelly wasted. Here both preached to the 
Gentiles the name of Jesus Christ, His sutferings 
for the sake of men, His death, and His resurrec- 
tion, of which they declared they were witnesses. 
They declared to all that there is no salvation save 
in His name. To the obstinate Jqws they recalled 
to mind the prophecies of the Saviour regarding the 
destruction of Jerusalem, and pointed out their 
near fulfilment. Such was the eloquence and 
power of the apostles' preaching that it penetrated 

185 



1 86 PETER AND PAUL IN ROME^ ' 

the very hearts of their hearers. An immense 
number of Jews embraced the faith, notwithstand- 
ing the persecution of Nero and the trials prepared 
for them by their former co-religionists. In those 
terrible struggles the Church found more strength 
and glory. She had disciples in the very palace 
and family of Nero. These heroic souls, charmed 
with the beauty and holiness of the Gospel, had 
cheerfully embraced the Christian faith, unmindful 
of wealth, of glory, regardless of the favors of the 
powerful emperor. These conversions served only 
to increase the rage of Nero against the apostles. 
For some time he had resolved to put them to death, 
but he would first humble them and confound their 
doctrine. He well knew that the efficacy of the 
preaching of the apostles was chiefly due to the 
miracles which they performed. It was therefore 
thought advisable to oppose the miracles of an 
impostor to those wrought by Peter and Paul At 
that time Simon Magus so captivated the Romans, 
and especially Nero, that they decreed to him divine 
honors. Depending on the power of the demons 
whom he invoked, he caused it to be announced 
everywhere that on a given day he would ascend 
into heaven, which was his dwelling and kingdom. 
Simon at the same time, in accord with Nero, chal- 
lenged the apostles to imitate him or else to acknowl- 
edge him as the Son of God and themselves as im- 
postors. Peter and Paul, after fasting and praying, 
went bravely to the spot whence Simon was to as- 
cend into heaven in presence of an immense multi- 
tude. Simon was indeed carried bj'the wicked spir- 
its on high in what appeared to be a carriage drawn 



PETER AND PAUL IN ROME. 1 87 

by fiery horses, but Peter and Paul falling on their 
knees prayed to Almighty God to confound this 
sacrilegious impostor who attempted to rival God 
Himself and to imitate the ascension of Jesus 
Christ. Their prayer was heard ; he suddenly fell 
to the ground and broke his legs. He was taken 
up covered with blood, and carried to the upper 
apartment of a neighboring house ; but overcome 
with despair through the violence of his pains, and 
much more by shame and anger, he threw himself 
out of the window and expired on the spot. 

THEIR IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH. 

This defeat of Simon Magus wrought by the apos- 
tles revived the spirits of the Christians, and was 
the cause of a great many conversions. But Nero, 
exasperated at seeing himself and the Romans 
thus deprived of the magical amusements of Simon 
Magus, ordered Peter and Paul to be cast into the 
Mamertine prison, on the Capitol, and there they 
were kept in strict confinement for nine months. 
From that prison St. Paul wrote his Second Epis- 
tle to Timothy, requesting him to come to Rome 
to be witness of his martyrdom. 

The Roman Christians importuned St. Peter to 
make his escape ; at first he would not hear of it, 
but at last yielded to their solicitations. He made 
his way out of the prison, but on coming to the 
spot where the little church of Domine Quo Vadis 
now stands. Our Lord appeared to him. St. Peter 
asked Him, " Lord, whither art Thou going? " He 
replied, " I am coming to Rome to be crucified a 
second time; " whereupon the apostle, ashamed of 



l88 PETER AND PAUL IN ROME, 

his weakness, and seeing in this answer that the 
Lord was to be crucified afresh in the person of 
His servant, returned to his prison to await his 
martyrdom. 

Whilst they were in prison only one thought oc 
cupied their minds, namely, the glory of their Master 
and the salvation of souls. They preached every 
day to their guardians and to their fellow-prisoners, 
and had the consolation of converting many of them, 
whom they baptized with the water of a spring 
which flowed miraculously from the ground, and 
may still be seen in the Mamertine prison. 

But now the day was at hand on which through 
their death the apostles were to receive the crown 
of glory as a reward for their labors. Peter was 
condemned to be crucified and Paul to be beheaded. 
This happened on the 29th of June. They started 
together from the prison but were led by two 
different roads to the place of their execution. Ac- 
cording to the practice in use among the Romans, 
Peter was scourged before being fastened to the 
cross, and then lovingly kissing the instrument of 
his death, he requested the executioners to crucify 
him head downward, not thinking himself worthy 
of being treated in the same manner as was his 
Saviour. Paul was beheaded three miles from 
Rome at a place named the Aquas Salvias. Tradi- 
tion relates that when his head fell under the 
sword it made three bounds, and that a fountain 
sprung forth at each place where it touched the 
ground. The three fountains are still to be seen 
in that place, about two miles above the great 
Basilica of St. Paul of Rome on the Ostian road. 



Chapter XIII. 

AFTER THE DEATH OF PETER AND PAUL. PETER'S SUCCES- 
SORS. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 

Y putting to death Peter and Paul, Nero 
thought to banish forever from Rome the 
religion of Jesus Christ ; but his cruelty had 
no other result than to glorify the names of his 
victims, to establish the throne of Jesus Christ on 
the very ruins of the throne of Caesar, and to make 
the capital of the empire the capital of the spiritual 
kingdom of the Saviour. Despite the cruel edicts 
of the emperor, the faithful with loving hands 
gathered the relics of the two martyrs, and offered 
them marks of sincere veneration. 

Their mortal remains, the places sanctified by 
their presence, the objects which they had used, 
were kept or visited with religious devotion ; stat- 
ues, altars, and temples were raised in their honor, 
and to this very day the two most magnificent basil- 
icas of the world stand at Rome upon the tombs 
of Peter and Paul. From all parts of the world 
multitudes of Christians flock there to venerate 
their remains and to animate their faith. 

The edifice erected by Peter on the ruins of idol- 
atry did not perish with his death. When the Al- 
mighty had taken his soul from the prison of his 
body and introduced it into the kingdom of his 



190 Peter's successors. 

glory, He placed on his chair one who inherited 
his privileges/ and like Peter was bishop of Rome 
and vicar of Jesus Christ. Such was the begin- 
ning of that admirable succession of Pontiffs called 
to govern the Church to the consummation of the 
world, to preserve her in unity by means of the 
infallible authority of their teaching. Peter died, 
but Christ still reigns and triumphs in our days 
in the person of the Roman Pontiff. The Catholic 
Church is the chief work of the wisdom of God ; 
He it is Who established the Roman Pontificate. 
To God and to God alone are the successors of 
Peter indebted for the infallible light which guides 
them and the invincible courage which sustains 
them in their trials. 

What of Jerusalem and the Jews ? 

A short time after the martyrdom of Peter and 
Paul the Jews revolted against Rome, the mistress 
of the world. In the year 69, Titus, the Roman 
general, collected an army and besieged Jerusalem, 
surrounding the city with vast fortifications. Soon 
famine and pestilence set in. The city was torn by 
factions from within, while the Romans battered 
down the walls from without. Neither young nor 
old were spared ; Jerusalem was doomed. Within 
one year more than one million Jews died from 
pestilence or were killed by the Roman soldiers. 
The city was taken, the temple burned, the people 
sold into slavery, and thus dispersed over the 
world as we now find them, without country, 
without rulers, nay, without priests or altars. The 
God of Abraham has ceased to speak to them 

» St. Clement. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. I9I 

through their high-priest from the Holy of Holies. 

What of the work of the apostles ? ** Their 
sound hath gone forth to all the earth, and their 
words unto the ends of the whole world." (Rom. 
X. 18.) But the conversion of the nations of the 
then known world was the result of their preach- 
ing, confirmed by the miracles which they per- 
formed, not a consequence of spreading the Scrip- 
tures among them. 

At the time of the destruction of Jerusalem 
there were but few copies of the books of the New 
Testament, and some of them had been only re- 
cently written. The Gospel of St. John, his Epis- 
tles and Apocalypse, were not written till about 
the year loo. 



Chapter XIV. 

ST. JOHN AND HIS GOSPEL. 

^Y the time of the destruction of Jerusalem the 
greater number, if not all, of the apostles 
had died, with the exception of St. John. 

The apostle St. John, according to St. Jerome 
the disciple whom Jesus loved, was a son of Zebe- 
dee, and brother of the apostle James, who was 
beheaded by Herod shortly after Our Lord 
suffered. He was. the last of the evangelists to 
write his Gospel, which he published at the request 
of the bishops of Asia * against Cerinthus and other 
heretics, and particularly against the then spread- 
ing doctrine of the Ebionites, who asserted that 
Christ had no existence before Mary. It was 
therefore necessary for the evangelist to declare 
His eternal and divine generation. 

In the fourteenth year after Nero, Domitian 
stirred up the second persecution, and John was 
exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he wrote his 
Apocalypse. When Domitian was killed the sen- 
ate annulled all his acts on account of his savage 
cruelty, and the apostle returned to Ephesus until 
the time of Trajan, and founded all the churches of 
Asia. There, at an extreme old age, he died in the 

^ The western part of the country of which Ephesus was the 
capital. 



ST. JOHN AND HIS GOSPEL. I93 

sixty-eighth year after the Lord's passion, and was 
buried near the city. (St. Jerome.) 

From the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ dying 
on the cross, we know that He confided the careof 
His mother to His beloved disciple John, and that 
he took her unto his own, acting towards her the 
part of a son. It is a question whether or not 
she lived with him for some time at Ephesus. It is 
however certain that she died in Jerusalem. Al- 
though St. John founded and governed all the 
churches of Asia, according to St. Jerome, it is 
improbable that he presided over any of them as 
their ordinary bishop; but they considered him as 
their apostle and chief pastor. 

This explains the remonstrances that he ad- 
dressed to the churches of Smyrna, Pergamus, 
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and even 
to the Angel (Bishop) of Ephesus, although John 
himself resided in that city. The apostolic zeal 
of St. John did not die out as youth departed. 
Clement of Alexandria relates that, heedless of all 
danger, he on one occasion followed a party of brig- 
ands into a lonely retreat, and brought back one 
of their number whom he had known and tender- 
ly loved as a youth, and restored him again to the 
bosom of the Church. Inspired with the same 
burning zeal, though no longer able to engage in 
active missionary duty, he would gather his 
people about him, and constantly repeat these 
words, My children, love one another, and on being 
asked why he so constantly repeated this one in- 
junction, he said : '* It is the Lord's command, and 
who fulfils it has done all he needs." 



194 ST. JOHN AND HIS GOSPEL., 

We must infer from the New Testament that a 
very strong affection existed between John and 
Peter, the appointed vice-gerent of Christ on earth. 
Peter and John were from the same country, fol- 
lowed the same avocation before being named 
apostles by the Saviour. John and Peter on the 
occasion of the miraculous draught of fishes for- 
sook all things to follow Jesus Christ. John with 
Peter and James alone witnessed the raising of 
the daughter of Jairus, the transfiguration on 
Mount Thabor, and the agony in the garden. 

Peter and John were sent by Jesus Christ, " say- 
ing: Go and prepare the Passover that we may 
eat it." 

Peter it was who at the last supper requested 
John to ask the Saviour who it was that would be- 
tray Him. After the resurrection, on hearing the 
news of the empty tomb, Peter and John ran to- 
gether to the sepulchre, but although John arrived 
first, he did not go into it till after Peter. John 
alone of all the evangelists narrates how theSaviour 
fulfilled the promise He had made to Peter : " Thou 

art a rock To thee will 1 give the keys of the kingdom 

of hcaveny Let the reader remember the appari- 
tion on the shore of the lake of Tiberias, when the 
Lord said to Peter : '■''Lovest thou Me ?. . . Feed My 
lambs, feed My sheepT ^ John had spent the whole 
preceding night fishing with Peter and others 
on the lake ; when morning came he was the first to 
recognize Jesus on the shore. He and Peter par- 
took of the repast prepared by Jesus Christ for His 
hungry apostles. John heard the Master giving 
Peter the commission to feed the whole flock, and 



ST. JOHN AND HIS GOSPEL. I95 

Peter asked the Lord what would become of his 
friend John. (John xxi.) In the Acts of the i\pos- 
tles we find St. John associated with St. Peter in 
the cure of the lame man at the beautiful gate of 
the temple, and going with him to Samaria to lay 
hands on the converts of Philip the deacon, that 
they might receive the Holy Ghost. Peter and 
John labored, however, in different fields for the 
propagation of the Gospel, and John did not go to 
his reward for over thirty years after the death of 
Peter. 



Chapter XV. 

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK NAMED THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
NOT THE RULE OF FAITH. ITS USE. ITS AUTHORITY. 

iROM the preceding chapter, and in fact from 



W 



yQ[ all that has been said in this work relating 
to the writings of the evangelists,the reader 
must infer that if the reading of the Scriptures be 
the rule of faith and morals, the apostles themselves 
had no means of knowing the doctrines of the Sav- 
iour, for they were all dead when St. John wrote 
his Gospel and his Epistles. 

The books of the New Testament which we now 
possess are for the most part the fruit of events and 
of accounted circumstances, composed not so much 
for the benefit of the public as for the consolation 
and instruction of private individuals. Thus six 
of the Epistles are addressed merely to individuals, 
and ten of them to converts in different and dis- 
tant countries, to men wholly unconnected and un- 
acquainted with one another. But neither in these 
nor in an}' other portion of the Bible is there any- 
thing that may be reasonably considered as a reg- 
ular and perfect code of religious doctrines, in 
none of them is there any connected order of in- 
struction, any arrangement of articles, any dis- 
tinct statements and clear definitions of each sub- 
ject of belief. Neither among all the sacred books 

196 



MORE ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT. 197 

is there any one that contains all and each of the 
essential doctrines of Christian faith. 

So true indeed are the foregoing remarks, that 
many if not all of the churches of the Reformation 
have found it necessary (contrary to their princi- 
ples) to publish creeds and catechisms, containing 
in order definitions and statements of their respec- 
tive doctrines. 

The apostles and their disciples and successors 
planted the Church and converted nations, not so 
much by their writings (seven of the apostles 
never wrote at all ) as by their preaching. This is 
but conformable to the plan and design of Christ. 
For when He gave the commission to His apostles, 
and by them to their successors, to convert the 
world. He neither commanded nor even instructed 
them to write. The commission which He gave 
them w^as: ''Go into the whole world, preach the 
Gospel to every creature. Go and teach all na- 
tions, baptizing them." Accordingly, in compli- 
ance with this holy commission, ''they weyit forth 
and preached everywhere.'' They all preached, 
whereas only five of them wrote; and it was bv 
hearing their preaching that the faith of the world 
came. 

Referring to periods subsequent to the times of 
the apostles, we find in like manner that it was not 
by the circulation of the Scriptures that nations 
were converted, but by the preachingof the succes- 
sors of the apostles. In reality, at those periods 
and in many of those nations there was hardly one 
Bible to be found. Even had there been any, the 
natives of many nations would not have under- 



190 MORE ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

stood them, seeing- that for a long while the Bible 
was not translated, and confined to two languages, 
so that it could be no rule of faith for them. 

Concerning the rule of faith and the means of 
propagating the doctrine of Christ in its purity, 
nothing can be more clear than the following 
charge of St. Paul to Timoth}^ Paul knew that 
he was soon to depart from this life, and Timothy, 
his dear disciple, was bishop of the great city of 
Ephesus. Let us hear what he recommends to 
Timothy: 

'' I charge thee before God and Jesus Christ, Who 
shall judge the living and the dead, by His coming, 
and His kingdom: Preach the word, be instant in 
season, out of season : reprove, entreat, rebuke in 
all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a 
time when they will not endure sound doctrine, 
but according to their own desires they will heap 
to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And 
will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, 
but will be turned unto fables. But be thou vig- 
ilant, labor in all things, do the work of an evan- 
gelist, fulfil thy ministry. Be sober. For I am 
even now ready to be sacrificed, and the time of 
my dissolution is at hand. I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a 
crown of justice, which the Lord the just Judge 
will render to me in that day : and not only to me, 
but to them also that love His coming. Make 
haste to come to me quickly." (2 Tim. iv. 1-8.) 

In writing about the books of the New Testa- 
ment and the labors and work of the apostles, we 



MORE ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT. I99 

have frequently quoted the four Gospels and the 
Epistles ; we did not, however, desire our readers 
to consider them as inspired writings, but simply 
as historical works. But from the New Testament 
alone we know that Jesus Christ proved His di- 
vine mission by miracles, that He has founded a 
Church that is to last to the end of the world, 
and that the Church governed by the successors 
of Peter is infallible. 

That Church is evidently the Catholic Church, 
for she alone goes back to the days of Jesus Christ 
by an uninterrupted line of supreme pontiffs, and 
she alone is governed by the successors of him to 
whom it was said : ''Feed My lambs, feed My sheep'' 

But now the Catholic Church teaches us that 
the books of the New Testament are inspired. 

We must therefore accept them as the word of 
God on the authority of the Church ; but if the 
Church had not spoken we should not know what 
to believe of their inspiration. 

As we would know nothing regarding their in- 
spiration save for the declaration of the infallible 
Church, neither should we know an3^thing with- 
out the same authority regarding their canonicity, 
that is, regarding the authenticity of each book of 
the New Testament. So long as the Church had 
not testified with her authority to the divine in-- 
spiration of certain books, some might have hesi- 
tated about admitting it. But the Church has 
cleared awny all doubts by inserting them in the 
canon, and has thus established their authenticity. 
This she did in the celebrated Council of Hippo, in 
Africa, in the year 393, attended by all the bishops 



200 MORE ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

of Africa, whose decree was confirmed by the 
great Ecumenical Council of Trent. 

The Church declares the following books of the 
New Testament to be canonical: Four books of 
the Gospel. One book of the Acts of the Apostles, 
Thirteen Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle. One letter 
of the same to the Hebrews. Two of Peter the Apos- 
tle. Three of John. One of the Apostle fude. One 
of James. One book of the Apocalypse of John. 

Let not the reader forget that the Canon of the 
Scriptures was not definitively formed till the end 
of the fourth century. 

It may be asked that if there is no obligation to 
read the Scriptures, of what use are they to us ? 
If there is no obligation to read the Scriptures, 
they might as well not exist as exist. We answer 
that the books of the New Testament are an in- 
spired, /^r/2^/ record (not a full record) of the do- 
ings and sayings of Jesus Christ and of the apostles. 
The Church venerates them, reads them day after 
day in her liturgy for the comfort of her children, 
and to demonstrate that the teaching of her pastors 
is in conformity with the written words of God. For 
the same purpose she quotes the words of the Sav- 
iour, which were not written, but were retained in 
the memory or tradition of the several churches. 
But it is well to repeat it, the Scripture would have 
no authority except for the declarations of the 
Church which existed before it. We speak here 
chiefly of the books of the New Testament, but the 
same may be said also of the books of the Old Tes- 
tament, which derived their authority from the dec- 
laration of the pontiffs and priests of the Old Law. 



MORE ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT. 20I 

From the foregoing considerations the reader 
may infer that the Church might exist in our days 
as she did in the apostolic ages without the Holy 
Bible. She would be as infallible now as she 
was in the days of Peter, because her commission 
to teach and the promise of perpetual assistance will 
remain to the end of the world ; and, again, if all 
the books of the Old and the New Testament were 
destroyed and were not to be found in the form of a 
Bible, they would be found and might be rewritten in 
their integrity from the writings of the Fathers, the 
decrees of councils, books of instruction, nay, from 
the testimony of profane writers, as well as from 
paintings and monuments. (See La Bible sajts la 
Bible ^ par M. Gainet. Bar le Due, 1871.) 




Chapter XVI. 

CONCLUSION. 

'.ffl^TE have supposed that our reader is a man 
anxious to know the truth, a constant 
reader of the New Testament, yet uncer- 
tain as to the way he should follow. From the 
reading of the life of Jesus Christ he has become 
convinced that He was sent by God, that He is God. 
We have come to the logical conclusion that we are 
bound to obey Him. The mode appointed by Him 
to propagate the Gospel was that used by the apos- 
tles whom He chose for that purpose. In the 
preceding pages we have followed each one of them 
in his travels by consulting the New Testament 
as a book of history. We became convinced that 
according to the plan of the Saviour the world 
was converted by the preaching of appointed teach- 
ers, and that this mode of teaching perseveres now, 
and must persevere to the end of time. ''He that 
hearcth yoii hearetJi Me.'' 

But if I still have doubts regarding the claims of 
the Catholic Church to my obedience, what should 
I do? 

Offer up a fervent prayer to God, Who loves 
you, and a solemn, sincere declaration that you will 
at once give up everything that is displeasing to 
Him. 

202 



CONCLUSION. 203 

Should I then believe what I do not understand ? 
Should I submit to practices which are repugnant 
to my feelings ? To the first difficulty I shall an- 
swer by quoting the following extract from the 
Gospel of St. John. 

Jesus Christ, after the multiplication of the loaves 
at the sea of Tiberias, returned to Capharnaum 
and there addressed the multitude regarding the 
heavenly bread which He was to give them. 

" No man can come to Me, except the Father, Who 
hath sent Me, draw him, and I will raise him up in 
the last day. 

" It is written in the prophets : And they shall all 
be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the 
Father, and hath learned, cometh to Me. Not that 
any man hath seen the Father, but He Who is of God, 
He hath seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say unto 
you, he that believeth in Me hath everlasting life. 

'' I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat man- 
na in the desert, and are dead. This is the bread 
which cometh down from heaven, that if any 
man eat of it he may not die. I am the living 
bread, which came down from heaven. If any 
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and 
the bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of 
the world. 

" The Jews therefore strove among themselves, 
saying: How can this man give us His flesh to 
eat? 

" Then Jesus said to them : Amen, amen, I say 
unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of 
man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in 
you. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My 



204 CONCLUSION. 

blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him 
up in the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, 
and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth 
My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, 
and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, 
and 1 live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, 
the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread 
that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers 
did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this 
bread shall live forever. These things He said 
teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. 

" Many therefore of His disciples hearing it, said : 
This saying is hard, and who can hear it ? But 
Jesus knowing in Himself that His disciples mur- 
mured at this, said to them : Doth this scandalize 
you ? If then you shall see the Son of man ascend 
up where He was before ? It is the spirit that 
quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words 
that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But 
there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus 
knew from the beginning who they were that did 
not believe, and who he was that would betray 
Him. And He said : Therefore did I say to you, 
that no man can come to Me, unless it be given him 
by My Father. 

" After this many of His disciples went back, and 
walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the 
twelve : Will you also go away ? And Simon 
Peter answered Him : Lord, to whom shall we go? 
Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have 
believed and have known that Thou art the Christ 
the Son of God. Jesus answered them : Have 
not 1 chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil ? 



CONCLUSION. 205 

Now He meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, 
for this same was about to betray Him, whereas 
he was one of the twelve." (John vi. 44-72.) 

St. Peter, who firmly believed the words of his 
Master, did not understand their meaning any 
better than the other disciples who ceased to ivalk 
with Him, but went back precisely because they 
could not understand. Peter believed because he 
knew that Jesus Christ could not deceive. ''Lord, 
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal 
life: and we have believed and have knowji that Thou 
art the Christy the Son of GodT 

In matters of doctrine our duty is to submit our 
intelligence to the declarations of God, although 
they be to us unintelligible, as soon as we know 
that He has revealed them. But the truths which 
He has revealed are declared to us by the Church. / 
firmly believe the sacred truths zvhich Thou hast re- 
vealed, and that the Church teaches us, because Thou 
canst not deceive nor be deceived. 

As to practices repugnant to our pride, such as 
confession of sins, fasts, keeping holy Sundays 
and holy -days, and other commandments of the 
Church, they are another evidence of the divine 
origin of the Church. 

Have you not heard it remarked, by persons not 
members of the Church, that the Catholic Church 
is the Church of Jesus Christ because she requires 
of her children observances that are painful to 
nature? But those practices which frighten at a 
distance are in reality the sources of comfort, of 
peace of mind, nay, of sincere joy. We knew of 
an eminent lawyer, whose wife having joined the 



2o6 CONCLUSION. 

Church before him, would often tell him of the de- 
light he would experience if he were to be bap- 
tized. To this he would coldly reply : Well, it may 
be so, but I cannot see into it. He received bap- 
tism in due time in presence of his wife, and after the 
ceremony he threw himself into her arms, weeping 
with joy and repeating : You are right, wife ; you 
are right. Supposing that the commandments of 
God as explained by the Church were more pain- 
ful to observe than they are, we ought by all 
means to accept them, for God commands and 
there is question of eternity. 

Let us rather return thanks to our Creator, Who 
leaves us not in the midst of darkness, but bids us 
cast ourselves into the arms of the Church which 
He has established. In her bosom we shall find 
light and that peace which the world cannot give. 



Short Way to Truth. 

What is your most important business in this life ? 
— It is to save your soul. This is the " one thing 
necessary." (Luke x. 42.) "What shall it profit 
a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the 
loss of his own soul?" says our Blessed Saviour. 
(Mark viii. 36.) 

WJiat must you do to save your soul? — You must 
follow the religion taught by Christ. He is " the 
way, the truth, and the life." (John xiv. 6.) " Go 
ye into the whole world," He said to His apos- 
tles, " and preach the Gospel to every creature. 
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; 
but he that believeth not sJiall be condemned!' 
(Mark xiv. 15, 16.) 

Hoiu many religions did Christ teach ? — Most cer- 
tainly only ONE, for this plain reason, that He 
cannot contradict Himself. " There shall be 07ie 
fold and one shepherd," He says. (John x. 16.) 
And St. Paul tells you that there is '' one Lord " 
and " one faith." (Ephes. iv. 5.) 

What, therefore, is to be thought of the many 
religions in this country? — As Our Saviour taught 
but one religion, it must follow that all these relig- 
ions must be false except OXE, wherever that is. 
Hence St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Galatians 
(i. 8.): "Though we, or an angel from heaven, 

307 



2o8 SHORT WAY TO TRUTH. 

preach a Gospel to you besides that which we have 
preached, let him be anathema." 

Is it not very uncharitable to say that all religions 
are false except one? — It is not more uncharitable 
than to point out the right road to you when 
you are on a journey, and to tell you all other 
roads will lead you astray. 

But are you not safe in following the religion in 
which you were born? — From what you have been 
reading it is as clear as noonday that 3^ou are not 
safe in following the religion in which you were 
born, unless it be the one true religion which 
Christ taught. 

What then are you to do ? — You must strive to find 
out whether the religion you were born in be the 
one true religion or not ; and if it be not, you 
must leave it, and embrace the true religion. 

But how are you to find out the true religion ? — You 
must truly and heartily repent of all the sins you 
have committed; you must \\?i\t no other wishXk\2iVi 
to learn the will of God and to do it ; you must be 
resolved that neither persecutions nor losses, nor 
world 1}^ interest, nor anything else whatsoever 
shall prevent you from doing the will of God 
when 3-ou know what that will is ; and you must 
often pray that He will teach 3-ou His holy will, 
sa3-ing : Lord, zvJiat zuilt Thou have me to do ? (Acts 
ix. 6.) If vou will follow this advice 3'ou ma3' be 
sure that God will hear 3-our pra3^er, and lead 3-ou 
into the right wa3% for He promises to give His 
Holy Spirit to those who ask it. (Luke xi. 13; 
Matt. vii. 7, 8.) 

You should also look about 3-ou and inquire 



SHORT WAY TO TRUTH. 209 

which is the one true religion. You will soon find 
in the New Testament that Christ established a 
Church upon earth ; that He built it upon a ROCK, 
and declared that the gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against it (Matt. xvi. i8) ; you will find that He 
gave His Church authority to teach His religion, 
and commanded all to hear and obey it (Matt, xviii. 
17 ; Luke x. i6 ; Acts ix. 6, 7 ; x. 5, 6); that this 
Church cannot teach error, being "the pillar and 
ground of truth" (i Tim. iii. 15); and that by 
following what it teaches you will be freed from 
all doubt and perplexity about the way to heaven, 
and will no longer be tossed about by every wind 
of doctrine. (Ephes. iw 11-15.) You will find, 
in short, that you will be as sure of learning the 
religion of Christ from this Church as if you heard 
Him speaking to you Himself. " He that heareth 
you, heareth Me." (Luke x. 16.) St. Paul says: 
" For Christ, therefore, we are ambassadors ; God 
as it were exhorting by us " (2 Cor. v. 20) ; and 
Our Lord says : " I will ask the Father, and He 
shall give you another paraclete, that He may 
abide with you forever ' (John xiv. 16); and again: 
" But when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He 
will teach you all truth." (John xvi. 13.) 

Such is the Church which Christ Our Lord es- 
tabhshed upon earth, with a living, speaking, and 
unerring authority to teach you the way to heav- 
en ; and this, therefore, is the Church you must en- 
deavor to find. 

A little more examination will discover to you 
that this Church is no other than that which you 
often truly say was the first and will be the last, and 



2IO SHORT WAY TO TRUTH. 

which all Christians say they believe in, when they 
repeat the Apostles' Creed : "/ believe in the Holy 
Catholic Churchy Yes, this is the Church which 
Christ built on a rock, which has stood for eighteen 
hundred years, and has triumphed overall the per- 
secutions raised against it; this is the Church which 
all other churches have separated from, whilst it 
has always remained the same as Our Saviour estab- 
lished it. 

You have heard many things said against the 
Catholic Church : there has been an ugly mask 
thrown over it to hide the truth of its doctrines. 
But if you will examine with sincerity, you will 
find that it teaches neither idolatry nor superstition, 
nor any of the wicked doctrines laid to its charge ; 
that it does not wish to keep you in ignorance ; 
that it does not stifle free inquiry, but wishes 
for a full and fair inquiry into all that it teaches. 
Its truth, to be loved, needs only to be seen. (See 
Apoc. xxii. 17 ; Ps. xxxiv. 11 ; Matt. x. 17 to end ; 
xix. 29 ; v. 10-42 ; vi. 25 to end.) Death ! Judgment ! 
Heaven I Hell ! Eteriiity ! 

PRAYER FOR GUIDANCE UNTO TRUTH. 

God of all goodness, almighty and eternal, 
Father of mercies, and Saviour of all mankind ; I 
implore Thee, by Thy sovereign goodness, to en- 
Hghten my mind and to teach my heart, that by 
means of true faith, hope, and charity I may live 
and die in the true religion of Jesus Christ. I con- 
fidently believe that, as there is but one God, 
there can be but one faith, one religion, and only 
one path to salvation, and that every other path 



SHORT WAV TO TRUTH. 211 

opposed thereto can lead but to perdition. This 
path, O my God ! I anxioush' seek after, that I may 
follow it and be saved. Therefore I protest before 
Thy divine majesty, and I sivcar by all Thy divine 
attributes that I uill folloiu the religion which Thou 
hast revealed to nie as the true one^ and will abandon 
at whatever cost that wherem I shall have discov- 
ered errors and falsehood. I confess that I do not de- 
serve this favor for the greatness of my sins, for 
which I am truly penitent, seeing they offend a 
God Who is so good, so holy, and so worthy of 
love ; but what I deserve not 1 hope to obtain 
from Thine infinite mercy ; and I beseech Thee to 
grant it unto me through the merits of that pre- 
cious blood which was shed for us sinners by Thine 
only Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who liveth and 
reignelh God, world without end. Amen. 

The Sincere Enquirer may with Profit Consult any of 
the following Books. 

Faith of our Fathers, by Cardinal Gibbons. 

Questions and Objections concerning Catholic 
Doctrine and Practice, b\' Archbishop Lynch 
of Toronto. 

Catholic Belief, by Very Rev. Faa di Bruno. 

The Catechism of the Council of Trent. 

Primer for Converts, by Rev. J. T. Durward. 

Milner's End of Controversy. 

Notes on Ingersoll, by Lambert. 

Manual of Prayers, prepared by order of the Third 
Plenary Council of Baltimore. 

The Israelite before the Ark and the Christian be- 
fore the Altar, by the Bishop of Burlington. 



212 SHORT WAY TO TRUTH. 

History of Confession, by the Bishop of Burling-- 

ton. 
Imitation of Christ. 
Poor Man's Catechism. 
Preparation for Death, by Liguori. 
Liguori on Pra3^er. 
The Spirit of the Cure of Ars. 
Roothan's Meditations. 
The Young Converts. 

Christian Instructed, by Bishop Challoner. 
Hayes' Sincere Christian. 
Hayes' Devout Christian. 
Introduction to a Devout Life, by St. Francis de 

Sales. 



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BEXZIGEIi BnOTnEnS" STAXDAED CATHOLIC BOOKS. 11 



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BEXZIGER BROTHERS' STANDARD CATHOLIC BOOKS. 13 

RUSSO, N., S.J. — De Philosophia Morali Praelectiones in Collegio 
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